


After Life

by BlackwatchMimi



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Gore, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Minor Love Triangle, Minor Soldier 76 x Reader, Reader-Insert, Vaginal Sex, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2018-07-18 18:50:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7326256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackwatchMimi/pseuds/BlackwatchMimi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The relationship you spent with Gabriel Reyes ended abruptly with the explosion at the Swiss Headquarters years ago.<br/>Though you were presumed dead from the explosion by most of the world, you had actually been under the care of Dr. Ziegler, and finally wake up to face a different world, under the impression that Reyes has long since been dead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> This is the sequel to my "Stay" fic that is pure smut, but this is not pure smut.  
> If you HAVEN'T read the other fic, you don't have to really, the jist of it is pretty basic. :)
> 
> Hope you like this, especially since moving on from pure smut to slow burn isn't actually my usual territory.  
> However keep in mind this chapter is more of an introduction to the setting. :3

An average person has three to five dreams a night; however, most dreams are immediately or quickly forgotten. In your case, it felt like you had gone through thousands of them in one night. From happy and warm, to cold and pained. Some had been nothing more than mundane, tricking you into believing life had been normal; until something bizarre would cross your path to signal that you hadn’t been experiencing reality after all.

The dream you were experiencing at that moment was nothing like the rest. You stood in a bedroom, one you had become so familiar with over the years. A room that had become like your home. Your body was next to a bed, your eyes falling to the two figures that slept soundly under the sheets; one of which, was your own.

Your heart ached at the sight of the other person. Light from the window highlighted his physique; the scars scattered across his muscular figure seemingly glinting under the glow of the moon, in contrast to his warm, dark skin.

His chest rising and falling slowly with each peaceful breath as he slept only served to pull at your heart more. Why did the sight of him like that make you feel this way? Your own sleeping body seemed so satisfied and happy; so did he. So then why did it hurt so much?

The scene distorted before your eyes, twisting the sight of yourself and your lover. Then, as quickly as your vision twisted, it snapped back to normal. However, the man who lay peacefully in bed with you had disappeared, leaving your dream-self clutching at the space his body left empty.

In an instant, a flash of red, orange, and black burst before your eyes; enveloping the scene of your dream and you in an explosive burn. Excruciating pain seared through your being, as though all flesh and muscle began to melt to the bone in mere moments. What felt like an eternity in hell went by. Part of you knew that what you were experiencing was a dream, but the pain felt so real.

It was over quickly. You were suddenly away from the fiery explosion and alone in a dim, empty room.

A black mist began to seep in through the windows and cracks, gathering around your body. The dark cloud seemed to envelop you, as if it had a mind of its own. You gasped, and the haze slipped into your mouth, forcing its way down your windpipe. Your lungs burned as they were filled with the mist. It felt as though it began to solidify from your insides. You tried to struggle, but your body remained still; tried to scream, but your voice was silent, and a veil of blackness fell over your eyes.

 

* * *

 

 

The first sense you regained after the strangely realistic and horrifying nightmare was your sense of hearing. A steady, high pitched beep repeating over and over. The sound had started distant, but became more clear. Its rhythm seemingly in time with a steady heartbeat.

The next thing you heard was a concerned voice nearby.

“I would recommend you make it here right away,” the woman’s voice sounded so familiar, but your mind was foggy and couldn’t place it. You struggled to regain full consciousness, trying to hear more of the voice and place it to a person. “And perhaps you should keep your face covered, in case she really may be coming back to us.”

Each word from the woman slowly pulled you out of your state of semi-unconsciousness. You were finally able to place the familiar German-accented voice.

“Dr. Ziegler.” Your voice came out a pathetic rasp. Your eyes opened carefully, only to clench back shut at the bright lighting.

You heard Mercy gasp and drop the phone she held, her short heels clicking as she rushed to your side. You tried once more to open your eyes, this time taking care not to be blinded by the lights. It had already become clear to you that you had been laying in a hospital bed. The light beeping you awoke to was the machine attached to your own vitals.

The room took some time to come into focus, your eyes felt as though they had gone unused for too long. The face of the familiar blonde doctor appeared in your line of sight, her expression twisted with concern as well as shock.

“What am I doing here?” You took a moment to check yourself. Your body seemed fine, in perfect condition in fact. That only made you more concerned as to why you might be waking up under Dr. Ziegler’s care.

“Well, _______,” she started, her lips curling up into a warm smile for a moment, “you’ve been out for some time, I am happy you came back to us,” her expression became more serious, however. You could tell she was trying to hide exactly how serious the situation may be. “You were caught in an explosion at the headquarters.”

You tried to tilt your head questioningly but pain only shot through your skull as you tried.

“But… my body is fine.”

“Well, yes. You were injured very badly and unresponsive.” she glanced away for a moment, seemingly nervous. When she made eye contact once more, her expression seemed guilty. “I tried to bring you back to us with an experimental procedure. Your body is fine, but it isn’t quite the same.”

Your mouth opened slightly in an attempt to ask further questions, but before you could speak, the door opened and a man walked in.

He appeared to be middle aged, though his face was behind a mask; his eyes covered by a visor. The man wore a blue, red and white jacket. His boots fell heavily against the ground as he stepped closer. Your gaze fell to Mercy in questioning as to who this white-haired man may be. It was at the very least clear he wasn’t there as hospital personnel.

“She’s awake…” the rough, gritty voice sounded surprised.

“Well, I’m glad your visor allows you to see the obvious," you hissed out sarcastically. The stranger showing up felt rather invasive. There had been so many questions swarming around. Who was he to just show up and interrupt your chance to ask things?

Mercy turned her frame to the man, approaching him and placing a hand against his broad shoulder, gesturing as if to get him to leave. “It might be best if you waited a little longer.”

But the man didn’t listen, instead, he stepped closer. You knew his stare beneath the visor was intently focused on your face. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head, stopping right at the side of your hospital bed. It was within the next moment his hand lifted next to his face, and he unlatched the mask covering it, removing the visor along with it. Angela had moved in an attempt to stop him, letting out a quiet ‘no’, but the deed had already been done, his crystal blue eyes connecting with yours.

You felt a lump form in your throat first. As your expression changed from annoyance to shock, you found the strength in your body to prop yourself up against the bed. The searing pain of movement felt like nothing to you anymore. It took you multiple attempts before you were finally able to speak.

“Angela, please,” your voice was a whisper, “give me some time with him.”

With a nod, Mercy made a quick escape, leaving you alone with the man in front of you. His grim expression only served to tighten the knot in your stomach. You felt the sting of oncoming tears build up in your eyes, your emotions beginning to burn through your body.

“Jack,” your voice cracked pathetically as you reached a hand over to him, clutching his jacket. Your knuckles turned white with the force of your hold. “How long have I been here?” you only barely managed to push the question out, fear of the answer creeping up on you to the point where you weren’t even sure if you could stay conscious.

Jack’s appearance spoke volumes. His once thick blonde hair was now white, receding slightly. His face was scarred enough that it nearly made him look like a different man. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much to see him if he didn’t still carry the blatant resemblance to the man who was your Commander for so long. But it was incredibly clear that he had aged quite a bit since you had last seen him.

“It’s not that bad,” he started, a rough calloused hand coming to meet your own. He gently loosened your grip on his jacket, forcing you to relax the vice-like clench of your hand. He lowered his body to be at eye level with you, placing your hand back onto the bed. He kept his over yours in comfort. “I just aged a little fast from all the fighting.” You could tell he was easing you into the answer to your question.

Finally, with his tired eyes locked onto yours, he answered what you wanted to know.

“It’s been six years.”

You heart dropped. Every feeling you desperately tried to hold back began to boil up uncontrollably. For a moment, you began to chuckle, nearly laugh. It quickly devolved into sobs as large tears began to stream from your eyes. You wanted to look away from Jack as if it may ease your pain, but something kept you from turning away. You placed your unoccupied hand to your mouth, covering it as you sobbed and coughed.

Your whole body stung as Morrison pulled you forward with both of his strong arms, your face planting itself in the crook of his neck. You didn’t even realize he had taken his jacket off as you broke down.

Your tears dripped nearly endlessly against the man’s neck, his arms holding your sore, shaking body close.

There were two things that broke apart your entire being, reducing you to a crying mess. The first, was that you had woken up thinking you had just been asleep for a normal amount of time. It now made sense why you had felt like thousands of dreams ran through your head. You had been gone for that long. The second, was the one thing you weren’t talking about. You knew you didn’t have the strength for words to be spoken about it. Jack probably knew exactly what you were thinking as well. You were certain that the reason Morrison came to see you as you woke up, had been because the person who really should have been there wasn’t able to be.

You knew he would never come, in your heart you knew that the last time you had laid in bed with him would be the last time you would see him. You didn’t bother even thinking about asking Jack about it because you just knew, that Gabriel Reyes wasn’t part of the living anymore.

The only sounds that filled the hospital room were the beeping of your heart monitor and your hiccoughing sobs. The strong arms around you remained firm; rough hands occasionally stroking your back. It felt like you would never be able to stop crying, but eventually you did as your consciousness slipped away once more, your sobs reduced to whimpers until you fell asleep in the arms that held you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I um... I hope you guys liked it!  
> I've actually been entertaining the idea for this intro for awhile, and it helped a lot to see another cry-in-hospital with S:76 fic get posted to help me out with how I wanted the reader's waking-up experience to be.


	2. Regrets

Adjusting to your new life had been rather hard. You had many days awake in which you weren’t permitted to leave the bed in an attempt at easing your body into its recovery. During those days, a lot of things had been explained to you, some by Dr. Ziegler, and some by Commander Morrison. Or, as he preferred to be called now, Soldier: 76.

When you woke up for the first time, you had been at Watchpoint Gibraltar; where various other Overwatch agents had already gathered. Angela explained to you that Overwatch had been disbanded and made illegal by the UN, but some agents felt as though there had been too much suffering to turn a blind eye. Winston was one of the agents who felt that way, and initiated a Recall, bringing together a group of people to fight once more. When that happened, Dr. Ziegler had your comatose body transferred from Switzerland to Gibraltar so she could keep you under her own supervision and out of any possible danger should your identity have been discovered by the wrong people.

You couldn’t decide what part of your recovery had been the hardest. Moving your body, which had long since forgotten what it was like to walk. Or dealing with former Overwatch agents you once knew. Part of you felt happy to be surrounded by agents excited to see you awake. But the other part felt guilty. That none of this would have happened if you had been able to steer Reyes into a better direction.

Because of that, Soldier proved to be the hardest person to be around. A reminder at just how much you failed. And yet, he was there for everything he could be. You couldn’t help but question why he seemed so intent on helping you recover.

Eventually, with your physical therapy completed, you found yourself able to try your best to move on into a normal rhythm of life.

 

* * *

 

 

Light splashing could be heard as your hands searched soapy water, pulling out a dish.

“Thank you for cooking such amazing food Reinhardt. I guess with great age comes great skill.” You laughed as your hands ran a cloth over a plate, cleaning the dish before rinsing it and placing it off to the side. You skillfully worked on the dishes while people around you chatted and laughed.

“Of course, my friend! You have so many missed meals you need to make up for!” His booming voice only served to put you at ease.

While there were agents who had clearly aged more since the incident, some members; such as Genj, Tracer, and Mercy, looked exactly the same. It helped you come to terms with yourself. You found Genji to be especially inspirational, as he had left Overwatch years ago due to conflict with his cybernetic body. Now, he seemed at peace with it, giving you hope that you would find your own peace soon enough.

“McCree!” Angela’s voice rang out, clearly displeased. “I will not have you lighting that in here. If you must smoke, go outside.”

You turned back to watch as Mercy scolded Jesse for trying to light a cigar inside and laughed.

“Come on Doc, you’re killin’ me,” he raised his hands in defeat and stood up, chuckling in a taunting manner as he sauntered off.

“You’ll kill yourself first!” Her voice was semi-embarrassed as she shouted at the departing cowboy.

A smile played on your face as you turned back to deal with the dishes at hand. It seemed like there wasn’t anything left to clean, so you made one final sweep of the sudsy water for anything you may have missed. Upon feeling something, you clasped it.

“Ow!” you exclaimed, feeling the sensation metal slicing your fingers. You dropped the knife you had grabbed back into the sink. You could feel Mercy and Reinhard’s attention on your back.

Lifting your hand out of water, you saw that there was nothing on your fingers to signal you cut yourself just moments ago. Anxiety began to build in your core. It couldn’t have been your imagination. Eyes glancing down to the water, you could see red mixing into the suds, giving them a pinkish appearance. That was certainly sign enough that you had in fact, bled into the sink.

“I-I must have reacted like that when I grabbed the knife, thinking it cut me.” You promptly unplugged the sink and let water run into it, washing away any signs of the blood. You turned and smiled at the two concerned faces, holding up your hands to show no sign of injury. “I’m alright.”

However, it didn’t feel alright. A pit formed in your stomach at the occurrence. This was the second time you felt as though you had injured yourself, only to inspect your body for the injury and discover no trace of one. Trying to mask your feelings, you finished off cleaning the knife, and excused yourself.

 

* * *

 

 

Arms held your knees up to your chest as you sat outside, watching the waves crash against the cliff below. The soothing repetitive motion helped to put you at ease somewhat, but you couldn’t bring yourself to face anyone at that moment. You had been told by Dr. Ziegler that your body had likely gone through some changes when she saved you. The extent of the changes were unknown. Often, Mercy would ask if you noticed anything different, but afraid of having to face anything bad, you simply brushed it off every time. _‘I feel better than ever’_ you’d say.

Your frame flinched as you felt something against your body, only to relax to see a red cloak drape over your shoulders.

McCree sat down next to you.

“It’s alright to ask for help if you’re hurtin’, sweetheart.” Jesse smiled out of the corner of his mouth, a cigar held loosely on the other side, trailing smoke through the air as it burned.

Of all the agents now stationed at the Watchpoint, you had the most history with McCree, working side by side with him regularly in Blackwatch. Though he changed from being a criminal to a good, just man, his personality was had remained mostly the same.

It simultaneously brought out the most happiness, as well as the most pain to be around him out of everyone else. He remained one of the biggest reminders of Reyes, as the three of you had spent so much time fighting together.

You rested your chin forward on your knees, tilting your head in the Cowboy’s direction.

“Would you ask for help?”

The cowboy laughed, puffing out a cloud of smoke from his cigar.

“You got me there,” he looked off into the sky, the sun setting against the horizon, casting an orange glow over the ocean. “I can’t force you to get talkin’, but you shouldn’t be dealin’ with things all by yourself. If there’s somethin’ wrong, tell people there’s somethin’ wrong.”

McCree stood up from his seated position, your gaze following him.

“I actually came to tell you somethin’ you should know,” he hooked his thumb into his belt, looking down to you with a serious expression.

“There’s some old Blackwatch agents workin’ for Talon now. They’ve been finding and makin’ quick work of former Overwatch agents.” Jesse flicked his now finished cigar over the cliff as he spoke. “They’re sendin’ me out to deal with the Blackwatch members, because I know the most about who they are and how they work.”

You began to feel anger build in your stomach at the thought. You knew there had been darkness brewing in Blackwatch, and eventually the agents you were in command of didn’t even listen to you anymore, as your morals no longer aligned with their sinister agenda.

“Maybe you ought to talk to Soldier about it.” McCree began to walk off, leaving you sitting alone at the cliff, his last words practically ringing in your ears as he spoke them, “You know ‘em better than I do.”

You clutched at Jesse’s shawl around your soldiers in thought. The anger began to build for a moment, resentment towards the soldiers you once put so much time into, only for them to turn their back on you and follow Gabriel down a dark road.

Eventually, your anger twisted into a determination. You needed to make things right, for letting everything happen right under your nose those years ago.

 

* * *

 

 

Your knock against Jack’s door was louder than you had intended. Echoing almost painfully through the otherwise silent hallways. In moments, the door opened, impossibly blue eyes peering down at you questioningly.

The man in front of you wore only pants. Your eyes strayed to his exposed chest. Scars adorned his body, proof of the many battles the Veteran had seen. He held a towel to the side of his head, patting it against his white hair. The glistening of water droplets against the pale locks made it clear he had been in the shower recently. You felt flush, but composed yourself, and addressed him.

“The mission you're sending McCree on, I want in. I should be doing it. I know the most information out of anyone here.” You had zero intentions of taking no for an answer.

“No.”

“Commander, with all due respect-”

“Don’t call me Commander, I’m just a soldier now.”

You bit your lip at his words, frustration building within you.

“What reason do you have for me not to go? I’m recovered, I have the best knowledge of the people he’s going after. I can’t be babied forever.”

“I said no.” his deep voice came out in an intimidating growl, but you were still intent on standing your ground.

“Commander-”

“Don’t call me that.” The anger in his voice was clear, but you remained resolute.

“Fine then, if you’re not my Commander anymore, then you don’t have the authority to stop me.” You turned on your heel to walk away, but felt a hand grip your wrist, pulling you back and into Soldier: 76’s room. He closed the door, and sighed.

“I can’t risk it. It would put too big of a target on your back if they found out you were still alive.” His hand lingered around your wrist, his brow wrinkling with concern as he kept his gaze on you.

“Then I’ll get a new identity like you.”

You made a startled jump as Jack’s fist came into contact with the wall beside you.

“Just _listen_ to me…” he became more exasperated than angry, slumping his shoulders. The towel he had draped over his arm slid to the ground.

“Why are you coddling me? You’ve been acting like a concerned dad since I woke up…” you felt both anger and hurt, feeling as though you weren’t being taken seriously as the capable fighter you were. Why couldn’t he just accept that you had recovered and were as ready as you’ll ever be?

“You lost six years of your life because of a decision I made.” The fist he had against the wall slid down, his arm falling at his side. However, the hold on your wrist became more firm; his calloused fingers brushing against your soft skin. “You shouldn’t have ever been part of Blackwatch. I made a bad decision when I let you stay under Reyes.”

You leaned against the closed door for support, your eyes downcast.

“And if you don’t let me go, how many people will lose their life? McCree? The other agents that are being hunted down? So I was out for six years, so what?” you paused for a moment to gather your bearings, your next words coming out more a quiet mumble, “Besides, I chose to follow Gabe. You only authorized it.”

“And I shouldn’t have.” Jack’s large forearm pressed against the door behind you, his body moved to be just a few centimeters from your own frame. His face was so close you could feel his breath against you. When you finally met his eyes with your own once more, it felt like he was looking right at your soul. Your heart squeezed in your chest.

But you could see the concern in his eyes. You had suffered guilt over feeling responsible for what happened, so you could understand why Jack might also feel that guilt. However, it didn’t change your mind.

“I’m sorry Jack, but I’m going.”

You didn’t dare to look at his face while you pulled your wrist away. Fortunately, he backed off enough without a word as you made your escape through the door.

You weren’t without conflict for shutting down what Morrison wanted. You had wished he would have seen your side and agreed, but you couldn’t let _his_ regrets get in the way of you dealing with yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well guys! Don't worry, our main man will be making his appearance in chapter 3.  
> I want to stretch this out as much as possible so as much as I'd love to write my lil' Reapy, I also love not rushing into it.  
> So I hope you enjoyed this one. Hopefully my writing streak stays wrong and I can get chapter 3 out in the next day or two ^_^


	3. The Reaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god oh god  
> I'm so insecure about this chapter  
> i'm so insecure about writing any form of action  
> pls don't hate

Dirty work was never something you wanted to do, and you certainly never liked it. But somehow, you always ended up having to do it. You couldn’t help but think that maybe despite your interest in doing good, that fate had other plans for you. At best, you could only get used to it.

The tips of your fingers brushed against the smooth mask on your face, thinking about how fitting it was for your current situation.

Before heading off with McCree on a mission to assassinate key Talon/former Blackwatch operatives, you had been visited by Genji. The cyborg brought with him the mask you now wore, offering it in concern.

 _“Perhaps you should make sure that no one will know who you are.”_ You played over the memory of him pulling out the mask. It was smooth and white, red markings adorning a fox-like face carved into the wood. As you had taken it into your hands, he continued. _“This is a kitsune mask I retrieved from Shimada castle. In Japan, Kitsune are contradictory creatures. They can be good or evil depending on the situation.”_

You pulled yourself back to reality, your mind lingering for a moment on the last thing Genji had said to you.

_“I believe you are good.”_

The faith that the other agents put into you was enough to strengthen your resolution.

Your back rested against the wall behind you in wait, one of two pistols you had held in your hands. You were dressed in the bare minimum appropriate for a stealth mission. Not a single inch of skin was exposed, covered entirely by black clothing that clung to your skin. The kevlar vest; fastened around your upper body, only made you feel as though your movement would be hindered.

Just as you checked your clock, the sound of keys unlocking a door signaled to you that it was time. Gripping your gun lightly, you waited as you heard the sounds of someone entering the home, closing the door behind them and placing their keys on a surface.

You remained still as the person seemed to settle into their home, turning on the light. You could hear by their footsteps they were likely making their way to the kitchen. You on the other hand, remained hidden in the bedroom. Having mapped out the unit beforehand to know the layout by heart, you decided the time was right, and slowly slipped out of the room.

Gun in hand, steadied and prepared to shoot, you peered around the corner for just a moment to confirm the identity of the target.

And then you shot.

The body slumped to the floor in an instant, and you quickly made your way to it, confirming that your bullet had shot through the head.

With that, you wasted no time making your escape from the house.

“I’m on my way to the rendezvous point, you done?” You spoke into the radio comm set, checking your surroundings carefully, gun in hand, as you made your way out of the apartment and down the stairwell as quickly and silently as possible.

“Of course sweet cheeks, just waitin’ on you.”

Your eyes rolled as you opened the door to the underground parking garage. Your mission partner, McCree, leaned against the getaway vehicle the two of you had left there ahead of time. Unlike you, the cowboy didn’t bother to look any different or disguise his identity. He already had a name for himself as a famous criminal. The likelihood of him being blamed for this whether he was seen or not was rather high.

Your movement slowed as you stepped up to McCree and the vehicle.

“That’s two more for today then. I think we should go back to base.”

Surprisingly, McCree had been more keen thank yourself on dealing with as many people as possible over the last few days. You knew your own limits enough to know that a dozen men in three days was enough. Likely, chaos would be stirring within Talon and you knew it was a good time to lay low.

“But I’ve been enjoyin’ all of this one on one time, darlin’.” his tone was a tease more than anything.

As the both of you began to open the car doors, you felt a sudden chill in the air.

A black mist crept into your sight, swirling around ominously.

Attempting to move, you realized your body was unresponsive. A terror crept up on you, the memory of your last dream before waking from your coma causing goosebumps to form on your arms, the hairs on the back of your neck raising.

You only barely noticed McCree readying his weapon; as if fully aware of what the two of you would be dealing with, while the dark haze gathered together to take on a physical form.

The figure that appeared dressed in black, his clothing clearly well armored. He wore a long, hooded coat, his face hidden behind a skull-like mask. He held two shotguns pointed at both yourself and McCree.

“I should have killed you when I had the chance.” the man, if that was what you could consider him, had a voice that seemed to trigger your primal instinct of fear. While still distinctly the voice of a person, you couldn’t help but think of it more like what a demon would sound like. His gaze appeared to be pointed in McCree's direction, seemingly more interested in his presence than your own.

It felt like time paused for the next few moments as you attempted to ready the gun in your hand.

Suddenly, the man shot at the both of you, bringing your senses back into real time. Jesse rolled away and found cover behind a car, while you spun behind a nearby pillar of the parking garage.

The man first put his attention on McCree, turning his back on you as though he had no concern that he was unguarded. As he shot towards the cowboy, who skillfully managed to get out of the way of his powerful shotgun blasts, and occasionally firing back, you appeared from the pillar and shot at the masked man. Your efforts seemed to be for nothing, as the enemy appeared completely unfazed.

Suddenly, his body returned to a state of mist, and began to re-appear right in front of you. Cursing, you unloaded your weapon into his chest. It only passed right through him, disrupting the cloud of haze that was his current form.

As his body became fully solid once more, one of the shotguns he held connected painfully to your head as he knocked you to the ground with it. His laughter echoed as he pointed the weapon at you.

“Are you that eager to die?” his question was taunting and amused, you hurriedly attempted to pull your other gun out of its holster.

Almost in the time it took you to blink, a shot from the man’s gun rang out followed by the sound of the shotgun blast hitting metal. McCree had made it just in time to protect you from the blast, his metal arm placed right in front of the shotgun’s barrel, only for the shot to completely destroy half of it. In the next instant, the hooded man shot once more, this time at McCree’s chest. The shot at point blank hit with enough force to send Jesse crashing to the floor.

“McCree!” You shouted and tried to rush to his side.

Another shot.

Time felt like it had frozen for a moment. Then, pain seared through your face, your mask blowing apart with the force, a mix of pellets and wood lodging themselves into your flesh. Your sight became obstructed by red, your visage a mess of gore, torn flesh, debris and blood as you tried to scream out in pain, only to realize you couldn’t.

There wasn’t any time to think about how you were going to die, only for McCree to follow shortly after, your fate felt completely sealed as the pain made you wish for death. You felt a clawed hand grasp around your neck and pull you up, your body completely limp in the man’s hold.

“Your soul is _mine_.”

It felt as though your very life energy was being drained from your being, it sounded as though the man was groaning in enjoyment, whether at your suffering or something else, you weren’t sure.

However, the pain in your face began to subside, the sound of the pellets that had torn apart your flesh dropping to the ground as they were pushed out of your skin and onto the floor. You realized what was happening. Slowly, your face was repairing itself, even pushing out the debris lodged in it; until the only trace left of your critical injuries was the blood that slid down your face.

You cracked your eyes open. Though your sight were obstructed by your own blood, you could make out the mask of the man in front of you as he held you, but remained completely still. The only sign to you that life wasn’t frozen in place was the hand around your neck, it’s grip tightening and faltering. You could only think that watching a face go from blown up to normal in seconds wasn’t something this man saw very often.

Your own shock at the quick recovery was pushed aside with concern for the downed McCree, however. You raised a hand, balling it into a fist, and attempted to punch your foe in the face. Or, the mask.

He reacted quickly, however, and dropped the gun out of his free hand, catching your own just before your hit could connect.

You could feel your body being lowered back to the ground, your feet touching down on it gently. The hand around your throat remained, the tips of his claws digging into your flesh. It felt as though he was breaking skin, but even if he did, at this point you were certain it wouldn’t last. His other hand remained against your fist, fingers curling around it.

Why wouldn’t he stop staring at you? The man could turn into mist, _that_ was stranger than healing, right? You felt helpless enough in the first place, but now the two of you were just standing there, one hand around your neck, and one around your fist.

“Just do it already.” You stared angrily into the eye holes of his mask, biting your lip as your shame built into rage. The hand around your neck became loose, and the clawed tips of the hooded man’s fingers stroked against your cheek. The now familiar black mist that seemed to be part of his person began to rise again, his whole body slowly appeared to be evaporating.

In the moments before losing physical form, the man seemed to attempt to grab your body, only for mist to pass through it as opposed to a limb making contact.

You thought you could hear him curse under his breath as his hazy form became nothing more than a cloud of dark mist, disappearing beyond the parked cars.

Now free, you scrambled over to your partner, who lay unconscious.

Finding a pulse point, you checked for vitals. A wave of relief washed over you. He was alive, that was all you could hope for at this point. Slinging his real, undamaged arm over your frame; you dragged him to the vehicle and set him in.

Sliding into the driver’s seat, you wasted no time getting out of there as fast as possible to return to Gibraltar.

Only after you made some distance between yourself and the parking garage did you radio in the base to brief them on the situation. While there were a lot of things on your mind, making sure Jesse got out of this alive was at the forefront of your thoughts, and possibly the only thing keeping you moving.

 

* * *

 

 

After arriving back at the Watchpoint, McCree was carried in by Reinhardt and left under Mercy’s care. She was already certain he would be fine, as his armor took most of the damage, but of course worry bubbled up within you regardless.

You retreated to your room to gather your bearings, washing your own blood off your face. As you tried to make it to your bed, you simply fell to the floor and sat against the wall, the rest of your energy leaving your body too much to bother making it anywhere further.

Time went by, and you weren’t certain how much. You felt overwhelmed with everything. The masked man, McCree’s condition, what happened to you when you were shot. Not to mention the man you had been fighting seemed to have overreacted to the rapid healing and reconstruction of your face.

The more you thought about the incident, and replayed the scene in your memory, the more it seemed like he didn’t intend on leaving, the way he attempted to grab you before turning into mist. Was he unable to stay in physical form for too long? Or perhaps the overload of thoughts just made you think that was the case.

A knock at the door brought you back to the present.

“Come in.” you pulled your knees into your chest as you spoke, not wanting to move from your little spot against the wall. The sounds of heavy boots stepping into your room as the door open made it clear that it was Soldier: 76 who came in. You didn’t bother to look at him. “Jesse is fine, right?”

Jack stood next to you, leaning against the wall. You finally turned your head to look up at him, though his gaze remained straight ahead.

“Already trying to get a drink.” the veteran snorted as he spoke. He looked down at you, his brow knitting in concern. To your surprise, Soldier slid down the wall and sat next to you. “That man has been single-handedly killing old Overwatch agents for a while. He calls himself Reaper,” he sighed. You could tell there was something on his mind he wasn’t saying. “If I had any say in it, I wouldn't be letting you go out there again.”

The first thing you wanted to say, was that it didn’t matter, you still wanted to do what needed to be done, now more than ever. But what you had been keeping bottled up made its way out instead.

“He shot me point blank in the face with a shotgun,” you buried your head into your knees, hugging them close. You could feel Jack’s bright crystal eyes on you even as you broke eye contact. “I felt everything, my face was practically blown apart,” your voice shook as you continued, each word forcing you to really face what was going on with your body. “And then in seconds it was back to normal, I don’t even have a scar. I can remember what the pain felt like, but there’s no sign it ever really happened.”

You felt a strong hand grip your shoulder reassuringly. “I can’t say I don’t envy that a bit,” you peeked out at him. Though he wasn’t smiling, his scarred face appeared lighthearted and gentle.

“Your scars give you character,” you smiled out of the corner of your lips. You did like his new look. While he was still clearly Jack Morrison, the scars, age and stress really played a part in changing his appearance. While the Jack the Commander seemed more like a heroic poster boy; Jack the Soldier felt more real to you. He was more a hero to you now than he ever had been back then. He felt so much more _real._

For a moment, the two of you sat in a peaceful silence together.

It was Soldier’s rough voice that eventually broke the silence.

“So Reaper saw your face then?” his deep voice came out incredibly serious. You couldn’t help but feel strange about the way he asked the question.

“Yeah, is it that big of a deal? I mean I was already working with McCree, they clearly knew what we were doing.” your cheek rested against your knee as you curiously examined his expression. The look in his eyes made you feel uneasy, but he sighed and seemed to relax.

“I just didn’t want any of the old Blackwatch agents figuring out you’re around. Makes it a little easier, that’s all.” He seemed to shrug off the conversation, starting a new one instead. “Look kid, you should tell Doc about what’s going on. She needs to know what kind of changes your body’s gone through.”

“Kid? You’re not my dad, Jack.” You lifted your face from your knees, flashing a grin. His cheeks flushed and he turned away.

“I just want to make up for my mistakes.” his words came out nearly insecure as he avoided looking your way.

“Like what? You never did anything to me.”

“I shouldn’t have listened to what Reyes wanted.” he leaned his head against the wall, gazing up at the ceiling.

“Not this again.” You pouted. It always came back to this with Jack.

“It was that god damned voicemail,” your stomach dropped at Jack’s words, your face heating up. There wasn’t anything else he could have possibly meant by that. “I didn’t want to take anything away from Reyes, how could I force him to go without someone he wanted when I had already taken away enough from him? He was my friend, I wanted him to be able to be happy. And when I heard it, I figured maybe it could have been something good for him to hold onto.”

As Soldier spoke, you could barely hear his words, and instead stared ahead in near horror at the memory. That voicemail that was left on Jack’s phone when you first gave yourself to Gabe. The way you had offered yourself to him, and the way he claimed you as his own. You honestly couldn’t get how you had forgotten until now. While you didn’t think Gabriel had intentionally left his phone dialing, you certainly knew he was pleased at the fact that his claim on you essentially had a witness.

Eventually, you came to your senses and tried to compose yourself.

“Either way, I made that choice for myself. You can’t treat me like a parent who made a bad call for their child. I’m not a kid.”

“You’re right.”

Your heart jumped in your chest at his words, his voice unusually husky, changing the atmosphere between the two of you in an instant.

As he turned back to face you, his hand found its way to your own, gently curling his fingers around yours. You felt frozen in place by his icy gaze, your heart pounding in your ears.

He closed the distance between the two of you, lips pressing gently to your own. It was a quick, sweet kiss, the warmth only lingering for a moment before he pulled away. He brought his free hand to your face, tucking your hair behind your ear before caressing your cheek with the tips of his fingers.

“But whenever I stop seeing you as a kid, I can’t help but see you as the woman you are.”


	4. Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god oh god  
> hope u guys enjoy lewd and emotions

Over time, the ever present pain had become a regular part of his life. Try as he might, Gabriel Reyes could never find a way to really make it stop for good. At best, he could tune it out. Any pain he inflicted upon himself was a welcome distraction to the feeling of constant decay.

Aside from that, his consumption of souls worked to stop the suffering for a period of time. It worked too well, like a drug, pushing him to seek out the chance to feel as normal as possible. Even if it left bodies in his wake.

Reyes stripped down out of bloodstained clothes, leaving them in a pile on the floor as he got into bed, resting his head against a pillow. Today was one of those days where he felt a little more human than not, and while he couldn’t sleep most of the time; with enough souls, he would be able to slip under for a few hours of peace.

It had only been two days since he had nearly killed you. In those two days, Gabriel had felt things that six years of pain made him believe didn’t exist within him anymore. Anger, pain, guilt, vengefulness; that had been all he knew. But at the sight of your face, and the feeling of your pulse as he held you neck. It brought about more than just the feelings he had known this whole time. It brought comfort to the emotional pain he had felt.

Now that he had consumed enough souls to be without pain for a few hours, he really had time to think about everything.

His hand rested against his head, fingers combing through his dark, curly locks. He hadn’t bothered anymore to keep it constantly cropped like in the past, and instead often let it get a couple inches in length.

Memories of you flooded his mind.

At first you were just another soldier. A talented one. You took orders well and he admired the pride you carried with yourself. But interpersonal relationships weren’t his thing much, and he didn't look past anything further.

It wasn’t until that day; one he often clung to for memories of life before hell, that things changed. How he felt changed.

He remembered the way you seemed so nervous, trying to get him to approve your transfer to Jack’s squad. At first, Gabriel felt pissed that Jack was transferring one of his best and brightest to work directly under him. It made sense to have an elite force working together, but Jack pulling the strings had rubbed him the wrong way. Even if it was his own best friend.

A hand trailed down his chest, his fingers tracing the scars against the warm tones of his skin. For now, his body temperature was relatively normal, but it wouldn’t last.

The memory of when you first kissed him caused a stir in his body, and his hand gripped his now hardening member, giving it a light squeeze as he began to stroke himself. He couldn’t hold back a low gasp at the long since forgotten sensation.

He settled into a slow, steady rhythm, tiny droplets of precum forming at the tip of his firm cock. The memories felt like a movie, one he had seen many times over and over. He could never bring himself to do something like this, however. Reyes was aware that he was slowly going insane, and becoming increasingly fucked up, but doing something like jerking himself off at the memory of you only seemed acceptable now that he knew you weren't dead.

Gabriel had wanted so bad that day he saw you to touch you, to feel the body he longed for, even if it was just a brief moment with his arm around you. He tried to, but hadn’t been able to keep physical form long enough to do it.

Now, he was settling for exploring his own body while reminiscing the times he did get to experience your body.

He squeezed his shaft, tilting his head back in pleasure as he recalled the feeling of your inner walls around his member. The way your warm hole would contract around him whenever he would push into your particularly hard. He rolled his head, his hips thrusting forward into his own ministrations.

The sex wasn’t all that drove him wild. He had loved leaving marks on your body, signs he had been there. Not just as some sort of claim of property, but the way the little red bruises he left contrasted against your skin like a decoration, and a sign that you wanted him. That you had chosen him.

“Oh por Dios…” he couldn’t hold himself back from completely giving in to the pleasure from years of having gone without. His labored breathing and the sound of skin slapping lightly as he worked himself the only sounds in the room. How he wanted so bad to have you again. He had consumed many souls tonight just to be able to experience the memory of you like this. But he wanted more. He wanted the feeling of your wet walls squeezing against him. He wanted to hear you cry out his name in pleasure, his teeth sinking into your neck as nails dig into his shoulders.

His strokes became more desperate as he felt his build up begin to tip over. He groaned in pleasure, his back arching and his eyes squeezing shut. His cock twitched in his strong grip as he released, ribbons of white cum shooting out onto his stomach.

His hand, sticky with his release, fell to his side.

Normally, Gabriel would take the little time he had free from pain to sleep; which worked as a temporary respite from all the negative thoughts that filled his head. But tonight, sleep wouldn’t come. For the first time in six years, he was able to feel really human. And he would take the feelings of guilt, hurt and rage if it meant he could hold on to his humanity for just a couple hours.

 

* * *

 

 

You shifted uncomfortably in your clothes. It had been a week now since your last mission dealing with Talon operatives. The aftermath of the fight with Reaper left McCree rather bruised up, and he needed a replacement arm as well, but the two of you were back at it shortly. Part of you wanted to be back out on missions as soon as you could, to get out of the base.

The night you had returned with the injured McCree, you were caught off guard by the kiss that Soldier: 76 planted on you. While he didn’t push further, you felt embarrassed being around the older man. Every time you saw him, the memory would linger and you found yourself unable to properly function, so you wanted every chance to get out and clear your mind.

It wasn’t that you didn’t entirely like it, but there had been so much internal conflict to deal with that you weren’t sure something like that could be anything but bad timing. You couldn’t however, deny to yourself that he was such a handsome dignified man at this point. His hardened expression and scarred face only made him more appealing than he ever was. You weren’t sure if maybe you felt that way because it reminded you of someone else with a hardened look and scars of battle adorning his face.

You tried to shake off the thoughts, and to bring yourself back into the moment.

Two days ago, McCree had received an valuable tip that an important Talon figurehead would be nearby tonight. You sat on a bar stool and sipped a drink, waiting.

The owner of the bar seemed to have ties with Talon, and while you weren’t sure if those ties were voluntary or by intimidation, your information indicated that your target would be here. While you sat in the bar, wearing a short black dress while music blasted and people danced, McCree was fortunate enough to be outside keeping an eye on the back entrance.

 _“Darlin’, cute girls in a bar is natural,”_ you recalled McCree saying. _“Just look like you’re there havin’ a good time, and I’ll signal when things go down.”_

You knew it was the best option for you to be the one with eyes on the inside, this place was more for wealthy patrons as opposed to hairy alcoholic cowboys. But you certainly couldn’t make yourself look like you were having a good time. The dress was short and uncomfortable, only covering your thighs enough to hide the twin guns holstered underneath it for when you needed them. You just needed to wait a little longer. As soon as Jesse was to see activity, he would send out a text to prompt you to make your way there as well. Hopefully, it would go rather smoothly. Bringing this man down would certainly be helpful in your fight against the terrorist organization.

Another drink came and went before your phone vibrated. You received a text with nothing more than a winky face, the contact listed as “Asshole.” You snorted in amusement at what you chose to make McCree’s contact name. It couldn’t be his real name in your phone just in case of any issues, so at least you had some creative control.

Leaving a tip on the bar, you shoved the cell phone into your purse and made your way to the exit, your eyes scanning around for anything suspicious. However, it was too dark for you to make anything out, and you instead slipped outside, into the alley that would lead to the back entrance.

Before you could make it to McCree’s location, you felt a chill. You were left with no time to react before a cloud of mist formed into man behind you, a clawed hand pressing onto your mouth to silence you.

You tried to fight out of the grip that held you, a cold strong arm holding around your waist as he pulled you off into a dark corner. You knew it was Reaper. Had you and McCree been figured out?

Once in a place out of sight from anyone, his cold, inhuman voice spoke low against your ear. You could feel his mask against your skin. “There’s a trap waiting for you.”

Waiting for you? Were you not in a trap right now? You tried to speak against his hand, but it only came out as a mumble. Your mouth was soon freed, however the claws on his hand pushed against your neck, as if a threat not to pull anything stupid.

“So you found me out then, congrats.” Your words spat out as venom as you tried to slowly reach for the phone stuffed in the purse at your side. Was McCree safe? Maybe you still had time to warn him, if you could just get it.

“I’m not involved in this. Talon intimidated and Overwatch ally into giving you false information.” Your body tensed at his words, and you tried to turn to face him, or at least, his mask. Turning your head only served for the claws on your neck to be dragged against your skin due to your own movement, leaving thin red marks that quickly closed. Only tiny droplets of blood left as a sign that you had been momentarily injured.

“So if you’re not involved, what is this about?”

Your hand slid into your bag carefully and you fiddled with the phone inside. Fortunately, for situations like this, you just needed to open an application by memory, in which opening it would give out a warning to McCree that something was wrong.

A hand caught your wrist and pulled it away from your purse, but you clutched your phone.

Using the opportunity of being able to see it, you opened the application to send the signal. A wave of relief washed over you. If you were to lose your life this time, you could only hope Jesse made it out before getting caught as well. Your relief only lasted a second, your body spun around and pushed into a wall.

The corner your bodies stood in was small, forcing you to be in close proximity of the man. At best, only a sheet of paper could fit between your bodies. He held your upper arms against the wall. It felt like the gaze of his mask was a never ending stare into your soul. Did he simply have something personal against you? If he knew it was a trap, why not just let you fall into it? Perhaps he had wanted you to be separated from McCree as a way to prevent the two of you from making it out alive?

In all your years fighting, you often found yourself in bad situations, it was part of the job. But none of them made you feel as helpless as this man did. And that fucking stupid white mask was the only thing you could see in this darkness.

“I can’t have you dying on me, that’s all.” Though his voice was always a mix between mocking and sinister, there was something else in it that pulled at the strings of your heart as he spoke. Why did he even want you alive in the first place? The only answer to that seemed to be the regeneration.

The masked face came closer to your own, a clawed hand moving up between the two of you as he tilted the mask to the side. It was enough to reveal his mouth, but too dark for you to see any details.

As he moved in, you felt his lips push against yours, firm and hungry.

It was in that instant that everything hit you. As though this whole time you had been in a dream, and were slapped awake. The feelings of his lips against yours said everything you needed to know. It was a feeling you could never forget.

You tried to reject the truth that seemed to be screaming in your face. _‘These lips are cold,’_ you tried to tell yourself, as if that was enough for you to be able to resist your own certainty.

You felt none of the normal signs that indicated the need to cry, instead only realized when the hot tears streamed down your face. You whimpered against his kiss, and brought your arms up around him. His hold on you gave you no resistance, instead, his arms hooked around your waist and pulled you closer.

As your own limbs settled around his shoulders, he pulled away from you.

“But, y-you’re, they said…” you couldn’t make any words out as you blubbered and sniveled pathetically. While you did have feelings of anger and betrayal deep down for what happened, they were completely overcome by the feelings of a reunion you never thought would happen.

You began to feel his body slowly dissipate into mist. As it did, he clutched you closer, cursing under his breath.

"Don't go." Your voice cracked as you held him closer.

"I can't stay." Gabriel clutched onto you tightly, as if trying to hold onto physical form. But things couldn't be that easy, and his body turned into mist. He fled the alleyway corner, with one look back to your frame, clutching your hands at the air as if to try to stop him.

You dropped to the ground on your knees, staring to where Reyes last was before he left your sight. Left with nothing but a dozen emotions overwhelming you, and a hundred unanswered questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd also like to take the time to let you guys know that I want to start interacting with Overwatch lovers like myself, so if any of you use tumblr and post an excessive amount of OW, I'd love to like u kno... follow you guys and stuff  
> You can also find me on tumblr as OwariNoMimi  
> i'm a tumblr newbie tho, never used it much for anything


	5. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shot chapter incoming. I just wanted to get this out of the way to make way for the bigger more exciting stuff.  
> Though i'm sure you guys won't mind an extra chapter in less than 12 hrs from the last one heh..

Your body was plucked from the ground in the alley, but you could hardly feel the arms around you as they carried you away. Your hands, though somehow numb as your feelings overwhelmed your body, clutched at the red shawl draped around McCree’s shoulders. You could barely make out his face through your puffy eyes, filled with painful tears that just would not stop flowing.

“Don’t worry now, I gotcha.” No stupid pet name, no flirty undertone, McCree’s drawl was nothing more than soft and supportive. The relief you felt that he made it away from any danger was there, but took a backseat to everything else. It felt like if you were to try to speak, you would simply choke on your words.

“Now, I sure am glad you’re safe, but what happened?”

You could understand why McCree would ask that. You did manage to send a distress signal so that McCree didn’t rush in to Talon business by himself. Especially if it was true that there was a trap set up. And considering the source who warned you of the trap, as much as he might be a bad person you believed that would be the case.

It was likely McCree pulled out after your signal and searched for you instead. It felt so much like you had been causing the Cowboy too much trouble.

“McCree…” your weak voice was hoarse as you wiped at your eyes roughly. Even the burn and irritation of crying seemed to heal itself. “H-he.. Gabe, he w-was h-here.” you coughed into his chest as you stuttered your words.

“I’m sorry that ya had to find out like this.” his arms squeezed you closer. You could tell he was making his way to the vehicle the two of you were meant to use after the mission. “No… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

You felt an anger build up in you as McCree essentially confessed knowing of Reyes’ current status. But the swarm of emotions was just too much to handle. You instead clung to his apology. He didn’t try to justify anything, Jesse was a good talker and wouldn’t blatantly apologize for something unless he really truly felt like he may have done wrong.

You felt him place you gingerly into the passenger side of the vehicle, closing the door which you promptly leaned against. As he entered, he started it up and began to drive off, the silence between the two of you deafening.

“Did the others know?” your voice was nothing more than a tired, raspy whisper at that point.

McCree’s eyes remained forward the entire time as he responded.

“Yeah.”

 

* * *

 

 

You stomped through the Watchpoint, your eyes straight forward. You didn’t dare look anywhere else except ahead of you as you made way to your destination. The overload of emotions you felt had quickly built into rage as you arrived at Gibraltar.

Knocking wasn’t even something you considered, you simply flung Jack’s door open.

He seemed to have been waiting, and stood from the edge of his bed, stepping over to you as you stood in the doorway.

“Listen, I-”

You cut him off with a strike of your fist against his cheek.

“You knew! And you didn’t tell me.” As you attempted to strike him once more, he caught your fist.

“You didn’t need to know.” His voice was unwavering, firm. He seemed to be prepared not to leave any room for anything but his own confidence in his decision not to tell you. “That’s not him, that’s just a monster.”

Those words felt like knives to your heart.

Feelings of self hate and hurt began to mix with the anger. You stepped into the room, making a determined, anger fueled line straight for Soldier’s bathroom.

“What are you doing?”

His voice didn’t reach your ears. Or, they did, but you simply ignored it.

Suddenly, you struck the mirror with your fist, shattering it, your hand breaking open as shards dug into the flesh of your knuckles. You grasped a large piece and turned to Jack.

“You walk to talk about what a fucking monster is?”

“______, don’t!” Soldier tried to close the distance but it was too late, you pierced the shard of mirror through your face. The feeling of your skin tearing as it cut open was enough to make you scream, but you didn’t.

Blood gushed out as you yanked the shard out of your face, the hole closing within seconds. Your eyes stung with tears but you felt too stubborn to let Jack see you cry. Not after finding out he hid Gabe’s fate from you.

"Here's your god damned fucking monster."

As you glowered at Jack, you could see his expression change. You could see the regret in his eyes. You felt satisfied that he couldn’t just stand there and believe he was completely in the right.

You dropped the mirror shard, and Jack stepped closer. He lifted his hand as if to touch your face but faltered.

After some silence, a voice came from the door of Soldier: 76’s room.

“Jack!” it was Mercy’s voice, though you could see that Genji and Tracer stood with her. It seemed the commotion attracted attention.

Slumping his shoulders, Jack walked off, leaving his own room behind.

“She’s been hiding a side effect of your work, Doc. You should probably check it out.”

You wanted to yell at Jack as he left, but instead stood there dumbfounded.

 

* * *

 

 

“Well, ________, your blood test is showing what could be an explanation for your regeneration.” Dr. Ziegler flipped through papers as she spoke. You kept your eyes at your feet as you sat on the edge of your chair.

“You already know that your cells are regenerating any injuries.” she seemed to be taking care of her wording as she spoke. “But the test is showing signs of aging in your body, more than it should be.”

She paused, but kept going as you remained silent. “I had taken your blood not long before you woke up, so I had something to compare it to.” her voice only seemed to become more monotone as she spoke. You knew the rest was not going to be good news.

“It seems like when you regenerate, it’s as if it is “borrowing” time from your future. You’ll need to be cautious, and I can’t allow you to fight. If you keep receiving injuries and healing them, you will die.”

She stood and stepped to your figure. So much had happened that you hardly reacted to her words. You almost wished you were still stuck in a coma on the hospital bed. All the overloading of information left you numb. Being asleep would be better.

“We can fix this.” she smiled as you looked up to her. “I’m sure of it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also wanted to ask my readers for something!  
> I am at a loss at how far i want to take things with Jack. This is, after all a Reaper fic mostly, and I want to please my readers. So if you want more Jack romance to thicken the strain of everyones whacky emotions, let me know please!  
> And if you dont want a tense triangle to happen, also feel free to tell me.  
> Because I am a person who loves making the characters i write go through hell, but i also want to please my audience.


	6. Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo get ready for this because  
> I TOTALLY DECIDED I WAS SICK OF PUTTING EVERYONE THROUGH PAIN  
> For now

A breeze rolled in through your window as you lay in bed. Everything was silent, the base feeling empty now that almost everyone was asleep for the night.

As much as you wanted sleep to overtake you at that moment, it never came. Many days since coming out of your coma had been hard. Usually, it was the fear of going to sleep, only wake up years later with everything changed all around you once more.

This time, it was the diagnosis of your condition that kept you awake. Sure, Mercy insisted there would be a high chance she could figure something out. Her resurrection technology had come much further than when she had brought you back. In fact, what was happening with Reaper was apparently her own doing as well. Your condition was essentially an “improvement” from his, but still not quite the final product. Nobody said it that way, but you knew that was the case.

The sound of a silenced gunshot rang out, breaking the silence of the night. Before your body reacted, however, you felt the shot pierce your neck. Realizing it was certainly not an ordinary bullet, you yanked the dart out of your neck. You knew by now the entry hole was sealed, but by the drowsy feeling that washed over your person, it was too late. Your eyes drooped as you tried to force yourself out of your bed. You only managed to step onto the floor before slumping over, your consciousness slipping from under you as a number of dark figures began to silently enter your room through the window.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Waking up came with its own set of fears as well. Sometimes, you feared the world around you would be changed when you opened your eyes. You could hear voices mumble and chuckle around you as you came to. Your head pounded as if hungover. Although your wounds could heal externally, it didn’t seem to apply to everything. Not a tranquilizer at least.

“There we go, Reyes’ little pet is waking up," the voice sneered. As your eyes focused on the figures, you could make out in the dim light that they were in standard Talon outfits, their faces were uncovered. With a quick count you could see seven in the immediate area, three of which were familiar faces. Those three were definitely former Blackwatch agents, ones that you and McCree had planned to track down but hadn't gotten around to.

You sat in a chair, still in your pajamas from when you were taken out of the base, your hands bound separately to each arm rest; legs bound to the feet of the chair. The room was otherwise empty. You knew you were likely at a Talon run location, and exactly why they would bring you there.

One of the men crouched in front of you, his mouth twisted in a pleasant grin.

“To think, all this time we thought you were dead, Captain,” his tone was mocking. He continued to go on as you clenched your jaw, glaring daggers at the former Blackwatch agent. “We set that trap for McCree at the bar, but when we saw your face oh, what a surprise. We thought the stupid cowboy was the one putting such a wedge in our plans, but you? We didn’t think someone who knew so much was around.”

He held a basic pistol in his hand, waving it around as he spoke as if to intimidate you. “Now that Reyes isn’t around for you to lead him about by his god damn cock, it’ll be easy to make use of you.”

The first thing that hit you was an instantaneous rage. You knew Blackwatch members eventually caught on to what was going on between you and Gabriel. Sure, your position was partially secured in an attempt to keep the situation from being known, but eventually people figured out that sometimes you would leave his room and not come out until the next day. Not to mention Reyes barely tried to hide anything. Still, the way he spoke about what was going on between you and the Blackwatch Commander made your blood boil.

The rage almost prevented another thought from crossing your mind. Did Talon not know that Reaper was Gabriel? Would the man in front of you even make such a comment if he knew they were the same person?

The man’s free hand roughly grabbed your cheeks between his fingers and thumb, inspecting your face. “I just can’t see why the Commander kept a bleeding heart bitch like you around just for some pussy.”

Your arms jerked as if you were trying to pull from free and the bindings. A couple of the Talon members chuckled at your pathetic attempts to get out.

“And yet you’re so afraid of a bleeding heart bitch that you have to keep me tied then I guess, right?” You felt his grip squeeze your face tightly as you hissed your words at him. He only laughed.

“Calling me afraid to try to get out of it, what an old, basic trick. It’s not gonna work.”

You could only growl in response, ripping your face away from the man’s hold.

“Now, I’d love to keep playing games, but you know a lot of stuff, you and that damn cowboy can’t be left to run around anymore,” he stood up, pointing the pistol he held to your lower body. You knew where this was going to go. It really hit you that torture was the worst thing you might have to experience, especially if they found out that you could just heal. They wouldn’t hold back if that was the case. “Now then, I’m sure you understand what we want to know.”

You clenched your jaw and looked away from him, bracing for anything that could possibly happen. You were trained for this sort of thing a long time ago, you could only hope that your own healing would kill you fast enough that this wouldn’t have to last for too long. That was the hope you clung to, that they would get too excited to torture someone who heals fast that they would hurt you enough for your lifespan to get sucked away.

With the sound of a gunshot, the pain instantly hit you, a bullet tearing through your shin, blood instantly bursting out of the hole. You cried out in pain, shaking as you tried to keep your stone resolve. You didn’t look at him, and of course, the pain subsided quickly. You knew they wouldn’t notice right away, as the blood and your pajama pants covered most of the signs that a bullet hole was no longer there.

The agents seemed unfazed as the oh-so-familiar mist you now knew to be Gabe began to materialize into the room. Perhaps for the obvious reasons that he worked with them. They simply ignored it. You were prompted once again to speak. Instead of shooting you when you refused to comply, he brought his gun down against your head, the skin of your cheekbone splitting open as he whipped you with it.

Before your wound could even heal, another shot rang out through the room. This one wasn’t from his pistol, instead, the Talon man interrogating you lurched forward, clearly having been shot in the back.

Reaper, now taking on almost complete physical form, had the attention of all the agents in the room on him.

“ _Die…_ ” his dark voice broke the silence of the tense room, and he began to shoot down everyone, his figure seeming to glide along as he spun and skillfully shot each Talon member until none stood. You could only watch from the corner of your eye. Each body that hit the floor wasn’t just a body, it was a husk that appeared to be drained of life. He made a groan of enjoyment, as if dropping more than half a dozen bodies felt good. Fear settled into your being at the sight.

“ _What did you do?_ ” your fear was apparent as you spoke. Killing them wouldn’t have rattled you, it was entirely the state of their bodies that gave you goosebumps, your figure trembling.

Reaper ignored your question as he tossed his guns to the floor and leaned over your shaking body, using the metal claws on his gloves to tear apart the binding on your wrists and legs.

“You kept out of all this this for six years, why get involved now?” you stood as he spoke, backing away from him in fear.

“I wasn’t awake until now, that’s why.” Your response was a snappy hiss. You started to doubt yourself. Was Soldier right? Maybe he really was a monster.

Though his hand reached out to you, it hesitated as you flinched. Part of you wanted to get as far away from him as possible. The other part wanted to close the distance and hold on tight.

“I’m going to bring you back.” His words were a firm statement that left no room for disagreement, something you had been used to even those years ago with Gabe. You shivered at his touch as he scooped you up, one arm holding your back and the other hooked under your knees.

“What happened to you?” You tried to look away from him as you spoke, but couldn’t help but want to see him as well. You wanted him to take his mask off, but also felt afraid at what could really be under it.

“Apparently hell wouldn’t have been punishment enough for me.”

The his steps echoed loudly in the room as his metal boots hit the floor with each step. You hid your face into his chest as opposed to looking at the bodies left behind.

“Why drop a bunch of Talon bodies? You can’t work for them when they figured out you killed a bunch of their men.” You tried to keep yourself mentally grounded and firm by asking the questions in which the answer wouldn’t hurt. There were so many things that needed to be asked but you began to wonder how much pain you could really take at this point.

“I only use them for my own goals. They can keep paying me to do what they want after this, or they don’t have to, but they will.” As reaper took you outside, you saw two more bodies, clearly killed in the same way as the men in the room. He must have taken out the guards as well.

“You saved me, and here I am, afraid.” You laughed a self-deprecating laugh, clutching at the fabric on his chest and pushing your face into it. Though he was cold when he first began to hold you, his body felt as though it had become warm. The familiarity of it washed over you in a wave of comfort. You began to feel embarrassed. “I can go back myself from here now.”

He didn’t respond, but instead simply kept walking in silence, the stare of his mask clearly set straight forward. For a moment, you felt as though he squeezed you closer to his body. You finally let yourself rest against him. Maybe for now, you could just appreciate the quiet and comfort. You knew it wouldn’t last, so you instead opted to enjoy it for what it was now, as opposed to ask questions with answers you didn’t want to hear.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Reaper brought you through the same window you had been taken away from. It was still dark and late in the night. Apparently Talon did a good enough job that nobody realized you were taken. You shuddered at the thought. Even if Overwatch agents would have come to rescue you, they would have never noticed until morning. You felt anxious at the thought, and unsafe.

Placing you down onto the bed in silence, Reaper turned back to the window. You quickly caught his hand, desperate to keep him from leaving right away. He stood in place, putting up no resistance, but also didn’t turn around.

“Did you decide you like being afraid?” His chilling voice struck you in the chest. You couldn’t make out what happened to him, and still didn’t want to accept it. You really couldn’t stop thinking of what Jack had said about him but still, you wanted him to be there.

“Take off the mask and I’m sure it won’t be so bad.” You tried to sound lighthearted, but couldn’t help but beat yourself up over how stupid of a thing that was to say. But you did genuinely want to see his face. Even if he changed a bunch over the six years the way some of the others had, you still wanted to see.

He sat down on your bed, his back facing you. For a moment, his hand lifted to his face as if to remove it, but fell to the side once again. You rolled onto your side and watched him, unsure of whether you should try to nudge a little further or let it be.

Pulling yourself to your knees, you scooted over to him and placed your hands on his broad shoulders.

Met with no resistance, you continued, sliding your hands to the other side of his frame and putting either one on each side of his face. Your heart pounded with anticipation, and you pulled the mask off, placing it at the foot of the bed. Your hands made their way back up to his face. You wanted him to turn around on his own.

“It feels the same.” you rested your own face against his back as you spoke, your hands pressed lightly against his cheeks, your fingers stroking gently to feel the details. His facial hair felt the same, although a little on the scruffy side. He seemed to have just as many scars in the past as well.

“Six years may have passed for you,” you started, nuzzling against his back, “but to me, I feel like I skipped through time. I remember everything like it was a few months ago, not years.”

That seemed to be enough to entice him to turn around. His movements were quick; as his body turned, he pushed you onto the bed, his large frame hovering over yours, each of his hands placed on the bed on either side of your shoulders.

Instantly, the piercing red of his eyes caught you off guard, your mouth opening slightly in shock. However, what seemed more surprising than the new eye color was the fact that aside from the scruffier facial hair, as well as the hair on his head being grown out a little, everything else was exactly the same. Time didn’t change him much like you thought it may have. You couldn’t help but smile in relief at the sight of a Gabriel who was mostly like you remembered him.

Reyes’ expression was nothing shy of surprised confusion. Though he always looked semi-angry and hardened, even on the rare occasions he was not actually angry; this time, that grumpy look wasn’t there. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, as he looked away and his expression returned to normal. He fell to the bed beside you, and hooked his arms around your waist, pulling you against his body. You felt his claws gently push against your skin, nearly threatening to puncture it at any moment. He rested his chin on top of your head, as if trying to hide you from being able to see him.

“I’ll stay, but when you wake up, I won’t be here.” He tried to sound firm, but you could hear the familiar signs of his rough, outer shell being cracked.

“I’m not going to be able to sleep.” Your reply was more of a retaliation to his words than anything. You smiled against his chest.

“Then I’ll make you sleep.”

You huffed. “But then you get to be conscious to enjoy this and I wouldn’t be able to.”

“Good.” his affirmative voice made you shiver against him, he squeezed in response.

For a fleeting moment, you couldn’t help but wonder why he wasn’t losing control over his physical form, but the peace you felt overwhelmed those kinds of questions. Maybe you’d ask another time.

You yawned against his chest. Thinking that perhaps all the excitement was enough to tire you out after all.

“If I sleep, will you come back tomorrow?” You could only hope that even if he left in the night once more, like he did years ago, that at the very least this time he would return.

You didn’t get your answer, however, as Reaper simply remained silent. You felt disappointment, but drowsiness overwhelmed that, and you drifted off to sleep, comforted by his warm, tight hold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to write other fics but it's so hard because I like writing this one soo much T_T  
> I may not update this one tomorrow though because I'm doing a lewd Soldier fic  
> and maybe eventually i'll start this damn slow burn Hanzo one i've been planning for ages  
> BUT I REALLY ENJOYED DOING THIS CHAPTER  
> I think Gabe really needed a little bit of being human.


	7. Cure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter incoming ^_^

“Before we start, I will need to take your blood to make sure we know where you are at right now.”

Mercy swiftly moved around the medical room to grab supplies as she spoke. You could hardly contain a smile, feeling refreshed from your restful sleep, as well as relieved that Dr. Ziegler seemed to have already worked out a treatment that may get you back on your way to living more normally. You wanted to be able to fight again. Not only to fight for the things you believed in, but now, you wanted to have more chances to see Reaper.

Sleeping in his arms the night before helped bring your spirits up. Though he kept to what he said and left before you woke, you hoped that the fact that he was willing to stay in the first place was a sign that he was still just a man, albeit a little different now with his condition. If anything, you felt like he might have become more inclined to physical affection, as in the past, he wouldn’t hold you while you slept like that unless the two of you had been enjoying post-sex afterglow.

You went along with Mercy’s movements as she carefully drew your blood, and took it off to test it.

While she was away, you only found yourself thinking more about Gabe, especially what things meant for him now that he was ‘Reaper’. Though you had extended an invitation for him to return, he never said anything in response. It wouldn’t be much a surprise for him not to show up. Especially considering that in the end, you were in the base of his enemies. And although he was clearly willing to keep you from harm, you were working for the newly recalled Overwatch. Eventually, conflict would break out no matter how much you wanted to just feel at peace.

As Mercy returned, her expression seemed concerned. “Your tests show more signs of internal aging.” she started. You began to feel nervous, realizing that it only made sense as you were flat out kidnapped last night and shot, but you kept it a secret because of the fact that Reaper had brought you back and spent the night. You fidgeted as she continued. “Did something happen?”

Thinking quick on your feet, you gave the first response that came to mind.

“A-ah… I was really upset and having a hard time coping with the diagnosis,” you started, avoiding eye contact as you felt flush with guilt. “It was hard to accept it so… I hurt myself, kind if hoping I would stop healing.” you hung your head in shame. Though you felt bad for lying, you figured that your guilt was a reasonable reaction to go along with what you were telling her. You tried to look at Angela and smile. “But I don’t feel so bad about it anymore!”

She placed a hand on your shoulder. “Please, ______, let us take care of you.” her warm smile only served to make you feel more guilty for lying, but also comforted your concerns.

“Now, let’s get started.” she carefully pulled out a rather large syringe. “I am using a modified version of the nanotech used on myself,” she started. You knew that tech she mentioned is what had kept her looking as though she hadn’t aged this entire time.

“This should be able to counteract the effects of your body healing,” as she spoke, you offered up your arm to her, not even in the slightest uncertain on whether or not to accept the treatment. If she was using the same tech she had on yourself, you had very little concern. Unsurprisingly however, she continued to speak. It wasn’t much of a surprise, as it was typically important for her as a professional to tell you everything you needed to know.

“It won’t reverse what damage has already been done, but you should be able to heal without the risk, at the very least.” Her eyes met yours, seeking your approval to go ahead with the treatment.

“There’s nothing to lose, right Doc?” You smiled.

Mercy nodded and inserted the syringe of nanotech into your arm. You felt a small sting on entry, before your veins began to heat up as it entered your bloodstream.

As quickly as it started, it was over. You were almost disappointed that the needle hole closed up right away without even getting the chance to bleed, but also hoped now that if anything happened to you, it wasn’t a risk to your lifespan every time. Hopefully soon, you could get back into action and help your team fight.

 

* * *

 

 

The day in base went on undisrupted. You took the time to wander around and spend time with whoever wasn’t out on any sort of mission. A few hours went by as you assisted Mei with sorting out files for her research.

Though you weren’t sure the treatment Mercy applied was even going to work, you couldn’t help but feel as if things may be improving, that you might finally be able to move forward with yourself.

By the time you made it to your room, you were spent. Going out on assassination missions didn’t even take as much energy out of you as wandering the Watchpoint and helping everyone out. Perhaps repairing social bonds was the biggest struggle for you after so long.

As you you began to close your door, a hand caught it, holding it open. You turned to see Soldier: 76, dressed casually, at your doorway. You tensed up. You hadn’t seen him around, so you had assumed he was out on Overwatch buisiness. You couldn't help but instantly notice the fading bruise on his cheekbone.

“Was that from me?” though you were still somewhat upset with the man, you felt flustered at the idea that you had caused a bruise when you struck him the other night. You couldn’t help but relax a little more. Sure, he had really upset you, but it wasn’t worth being hung up on over.

Without bothering to ask, he stepped into your room and closed the door behind him with a gentle click. “I might have deserved it.” His rough voice sounded resigned and he leaned against your door, bright blue eyes trained on you intently. Silence envelopped the room for a moment, until he made a move.

With his enhanced reflexes, Jack put his arm around your waist and spun you around, holding your body up against the door, his hand rested against it beside your face.

“Jack, listen-” you started to speak, but he didn’t give you much of a chance

“I stand by what I said about Reyes,” his voice was low, his face moving closer to yours. You turned your head in embarrassment. While you certainly found yourself somewhat attracted to the man, you just couldn’t stop wishing it was Gabe. He continued, “he needs to be taken down. And I don’t want to lose you to him again. Before it was different, you were just a soldier to me, but now you're more than that, and I can’t let him leave you to die again.”

His last words felt like ice piercing your heart. He was right. Gabriel left you that night to die. Maybe he didn’t think the headquarters would explode, but what did he expect? He left to take Overwatch down, and you stood on Overwatch’s side. As long as his plan was bring them down, then it would have included you with them.

You knew he left you to die, and yet you had tried so hard not to let that thought in. You still wanted to believe in him.

Your body felt weak, only being supported by Jack’s arm around your waist. Your eyes stung, but only a few stray tears came out. You couldn’t just accept what happened. Your heart ached to be able to see Gabriel. To ask him why he left. To ask what he thought would have happened, if he really did leave knowing you would die.

Apparently, you would get just that. Your eyes wandered to sudden movement by your window, the black haze you were now accustomed to forming up into the man you wanted to see. He must have come for you like you had asked, as he carried no weapons and his face was uncovered.

His expression struck fear into your entire being as he stared down Jack; who still held your waist, and had turned to see what you had been looking at. You had never seen such a build up of hatred in someone’s eyes in your life.

His red eyes glowered at, not even glancing in your general direction but instead focused on Jack. Your body was numb with fear.

 

You were certain this would not end well for anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to put this out now as next chapter may be rather longer than usual ^_^  
> Plus... Cliffhangers!


	8. Souls

For only the briefest of moments, a hope that nothing particularly bad would happen occupied your thoughts. Neither of the men before you had their weapons or usual combat outfits. Part of you already knew that thought was nothing more than a deluded hope.

It took an instant for Reaper to disappear in a cloud of black shadows and re-appear directly in front of you and Soldier: 76, his arm moving faster than you could blink as he struck Jack square in the jaw, a mix between a thud and a smack sounded out as the hit connected.

Feeling the arm holding you let go, you quickly scurried to the side out of the way, trying to gather your bearings.

Soldier retaliated the shot right away, grazing Reyes’ face with a quick jab. You realized Jack’s moves were a feint, as his other fist took the distraction and hit Reaper in his solar plexus. Gabe gasped at the air being knocked out of his lungs. You could tell Soldier wasn’t wasting that opportunity, attempting to swing his knee into his opponent’s side.

“Jack stop!” you felt like you would never be able to get either of them to stop, and that your voice was just falling on deaf ears, the two were already much too far gone at that point.

Reaper’s hand gripped Jack’s knee with lightning-like reflexes. He took another jab at Soldier’s face, which Morrison just barely managed to avoid, stepping back for some distance between their bodies.

“He destroyed everything I worked for, and someone needs to bring him down. I won’t stop until he’s dead for good.” the white-haired man’s hateful growl was clear. His words were hardly directed to you, rather it was as if he was voicing his intent to himself. Without weapons, and without other soldiers fighting, this conflict was completely personal between the two, years of piled up rage flowing out with each hit.

Reaper’s physical form briefly dissipated as he used his wraith abilities to quickly move to Jack’s side, lifting his leg and kicking him backwards. “Even in my death you keep trying to take away what’s mine.”  
You could only assume his jealousy was speaking, after all Soldier had taken a lot away from him. You had often been unsure if Gabriel was so jealous out of his raw feelings for you, or if it was about not wanting Soldier to have anything he wanted.

Reyes attempted to land another strike against Jack’s face, but appeared to be too slow as Soldier ducked under it, delivering a counter jab to his ribs.

As the two continued to exchange strikes you couldn’t help but notice the difference between each of their capabilities. What Reaper had in raw strength, Soldier made up for it in a clear difference of skill. The two were for the most part, evenly matched, but you knew neither of them would stop until the other was down, never to get back up. Their faces became bloodied from strong connecting strikes, and you began to realize you absolutely had to do something before one of them was killed.

As you moved to step in, the room to your door swung open, Reinhardt at the entrance. Apparently the commotion attracted the others, as you could see the movement of other bodies behind Reinhardt’s gigantic frame.

The intrusion was enough to distract Soldier, his attention falling to the door just long enough for Reaper to land a powerful hit against his face, you could hear a sickening crack, signaling that something had broken.

“What that all?” Reaper laughed. It was a sinister laugh of victory as he took his clear advantage and moved in to finish the job.

Both you and Reinhardt reacted quickly, the large man pulling Soldier out of harm’s way as you slid between their two bodies, putting your hands against Reyes’ chest and pushing him back.

“Move. I’m ending this.” His voice was cold and angry as he gripped your shoulder. His hold was vice-like and painful as he tried to push you aside, but you simply grabbed onto him and held firm.

“Just take Jack out of here.” you didn’t look back, but you could hear Soldier struggle against Reinhardt’s hold as well.

“We cannot leave you alone with this man.” the voice that spoke was Genji’s. You felt tears form in your eyes at the stress of the situation. Gabriel was so far gone he was ready to stop at nothing to kill Jack, and with other members there, they weren’t going to let him get away.

“Please,” your voice quivered as you began to cry, tears spilling down your cheeks as you held tightly to keep Reaper back, your arm numbing at the force of his grip on you.

“Just let me deal with him. He’s not going to hurt me or he would have already. Please take Jack and go.” You weren’t sure who else was there as you never got the chance to look, but you could only hope your pleading was enough to convince Genji and Reinhardt.

“I understand.” That was all Genji said, you didn’t bother to look back to see what was happening, but instead cried against Reaper’s chest. You assumed by the sound of your door closing and the fact that the man in front of you slowly eased up his force that the two of you were left alone now.

As you fell to your knees, you looked around and saw that you were, in fact, alone with Reaper now. Your hands clutched ahead of you, holding onto his pants as you looked up to him. His stare remained on the door for a few moments longer until his bright crimson eyes found their way to your own. The clear rage that burned within them seemed to go out at the sight of you.

As he stepped back, you swiftly reached out and clutched his wrist in a clear sign that you didn’t want him to leave. Your emotions getting the better of you, you almost shouted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You left me to die, what gives you the right to show up and try to decide what happens to me now?!”

“None of this is what I wanted…” his voice was a low grumble as he knelt in front of you, taking your face between his hands. He patiently used his thumbs to wipe away every tear that fell from your eyes.

“Well what did you expect?” You half laughed as you sobbed, his firm hands keeping your gaze connected with his. You felt conflicted with your anger towards him. On the one hand, you really did feel like you were tossed aside. And yet, he kept protecting you. He even showed up without his weapon and mask, clearly because you requested that he return to you.

“To satisfy the anger building up in me. But nothing is enough, not until I kill him.” He didn’t need to clarify that he meant Jack. It hurt you that even now he was still holding onto something that happened so long ago.

“If nothing has been enough, then killing Jack isn’t going to make you feel better.” You let yourself rest your face against his hold, his cool hands helping to bring you down from the surge of emotions as the two of you sat in silence together. He never, after all this time, ceased to bring you back down to a reasonable level without even so much as trying. As shaken up as you were, as angry as you felt, you just couldn’t hold on to those feelings so easily.

How was it that someone who couldn’t let go of their own anger was able to bring yours away within moments, without even trying?

It seemed like calming you down was what Reaper was aiming for, he pulled his hands away from your face and helped you to your feet. Though his body moved as if to leave through the window, you quickly cut him off.

“You came here because I asked, right? So you aren’t allowed to leave yet.” You sauntered over to the window of your room and opened it, climbing over the windowsill. Though you mostly felt slightly better, you had plenty of worries, and felt as though sitting around your room in angst wasn’t the right way of going about things, that perhaps both you and Gabriel needed to deal with your anger some other way. With a challenging look at him, you climbed down, out of Reaper’s sight.

He followed you, climbing out and down only a few feet behind, the two of you using windowsills to hold onto as you made your adventurous exit to the ground a few stories below. You couldn’t help but feel almost pleased that he wasn’t using his wraith form.

You looked over to the window where Mercy’s clinic on base would be, noting that the light was on. Likely, Jack was in there being treated. You felt responsible, but also angry at Reaper, yet in a way, relieved that a fist fight was the only thing that happened. Jack would probably be fine, Dr. Ziegler’s work was good enough that despite the clear sound of something breaking, it would likely be healed rather quickly. You still couldn’t believe that Reinhardt and Genji let you be alone with Reaper, however. You took a moment as your feet touched the ground to feel thankful for that, figuring you would have to show appreciation at some point. Even if they had only left to prevent any further conflict.

“You’re being awfully co-operative, it isn’t like you.” You only glanced at him briefly as you spoke, his own feet joining you on the ground. You began to head towards the cliffside of the Watchpoint, his footsteps signaling he was close behind.

“I suppose getting one over on the Blondie improved my mood.” though his tone sounded sarcastic, you knew he likely meant it as well. If only things could be so simple as working their issues out through one fist fight, but that was definitely too overambitious of a dream.

“He isn’t even blonde anymore.” You started, feeling a little uncomfortable talking about Jack. Even if he made an unwanted move on you before Reaper turned up, he had the best intentions, you just couldn’t stop feeling guilty over it. “If I told you that in order to see me again, you had to apologize to him, would you do it?”

“No.”

You sighed. “It was worth trying I guess.” At no point did you actually think it might ever work. Gabriel, even before all the resentment and envy set in, was the kind of man who would rather do without than have to put his pride on the line.

As you neared the cliff, you settled down onto the ground, gazing out at the ocean. The sound of the waves served to calm you, and although it was a moonless night, the stars shone brightly. You didn’t expect something like this to appeal to Reyes, but at the very least wanted to enjoy it with him at your side.

He sat next to you, and for some time you were silent.

“Why do you sometimes lose control over having a physical body?” as you turned to face him, you felt almost surprised at the red of his eyes, almost glowing brightly against the darkness of the night.

“It’s harder to maintain it if I haven’t had enough souls.” his response was matter-of-factly, as if he didn’t think an answer like that might need further explanation.

“Is that what you do to the people you kill?” you looked away, feeling nervous under his stare, as well as anxious over what he had been doing to people. Your feelings for Gabe in the past were easy to deal with. He was a hardass, grumpy man, and that had been it. But now, he was flat out murdering people and… taking their souls? Did he have to live this way all these years? You knew it wasn’t right to let things be like that, but your heart ached for him regardless.

His silence was all the confirmation in the world that he was, in fact, consuming souls. You took the chance to glance at him in the periphery of your vision, his eyes focused intently on the scenery ahead of the two of you.

“Do you like it?” your question was of genuine curiosity, as you were certain this wasn’t his sort of deal.

“Not really.”

You shivered as his arm snaked around your waist, pulling your side against his body. You turned to face him, his eyes already on you. His gaze nearly felt overbearing. “I just can’t really appreciate two things at once.”

Using his strength, he swiftly pushed you against the ground, hovering over your frame. The hunger in his eyes was apparent. Your heart began thumping wildly, as if trying to break out of your chest. You couldn’t tell if you were afraid or excited. Likely both.

As he leaned into you, your body began to feel unusual, as though the strength and warmth from it was being sucked away. His lips pressed to yours in an unusually gentle kiss. He groaned as if in pleasure, and you felt his body tense up on top of you. It wasn’t until he pulled off that the strange feeling that had washed over you vanished, your strength and body heat returning to you shortly afterwards.

“G-Gabe what did you do?” Your heart was racing. You were almost certain you knew exactly what he was doing, you could even feel his body warming up like it had before. But you were alive, and fine, so could he really have just tried to consume your soul?

“Mm, that should have been enough for you to sleep.” he ignored your question and moved into you again, his kiss pushing against your lips with force this time. The same sensation washed over you once more, his scarred lips working against yours as if he was starving for your kiss. The intensity of the sensations overwhelmed you, and you felt relief as he pulled off, your body again returning to normal as though nothing happened.

You were surprised at how dumbfounded his expression was for a moment, before his eyebrows furrowed.

“You can heal it…” he looked you up and down, as if he had some sort of expectation that was shattered.

“You… tried to consume my soul?” He didn’t seem like he was trying to kill you. By his own words, it appeared more so that he was trying to push enough for you to be unconscious.

“I was losing control over my physical form.” he had zero traces of guilt. You felt annoyed on the one hand, but on the other, you couldn't find the strength to hold it against him.

“So… my soul is healing while you consume it?” You wanted so much to be angry, to scold him, after everything he did that day you wanted to be so mad. And yet, you were happy. In this moment, you would have never found out there was some sort of blessing to your condition, and despite how mad you wanted to be, neither of you would have found out if he hadn’t tried. You smiled at him, a smile of complete relief. It felt like a huge burden was lifted.

“Don’t smile like that.” He made a noise of disapproval and pulled you close, burying his face into your neck, the renewed warmth of his body wrapping around you like a blanket of comfort. He placed a kiss onto your neck and held his lips there.

You didn’t dare ruin the moment by making a comment, but you could feel his lips curl up into a smile against the skin of your neck.

Your time with him was cut short, however, as you heard Winston’s voice call out for you from the base. The Overwatch agents likely realized you were no longer in your room, and considering who you had been left alone with, it was reasonable to assume that something bad could have happened. The arms around you loosened up, and Gabe stepped onto his feet, helping you up. Neither of you had a need to speak, as you both knew that it would be best for you to return and deal with the fight’s aftermath.

“Come back, ok?”

You knew he would never acknowledge your invitation, or agree to it, or even tell you he would consider it, but you made sure to extend it regardless, feeling hopeful that as long as you asked, he would show up.

For a moment, you hesitated. You wanted to give him a brief kiss goodbye, and almost did, but shook off the urge from yourself. A few steps at a time was good enough.

You turned on your heel and headed back to base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god here's another insecure one.  
> I hope I captured Gabe/Reaper fine 
> 
> ahhhh  
> :: screams internally::


	9. Visit

Awkwardly, you stood in the hallway of the Watchpoint, standing in front of Jack’s door. You didn’t hear any voices or movement from inside, but the light indicated that he was likely still there.

After having to separate from Reaper to return inside, you had spoken to Winston and McCree. It took a bit of convincing to insist you were completely unharmed. Jesse’s expression, however, had said it all. You weren’t sure who at this point knew, but that it was definitely clear to at least some of the members that things between you and Reyes were complicated to say the least. At no point had you been able to even try to think of an excuse as to why the man would have shown up unarmed and unmasked into your room.

Eventually, McCree had taken you aside and told you that the team had collectively agreed that something need to be done about it, and that while they weren’t sure what to do, Soldier: 76 would likely be the one to make the final call in regards to the situation.

So, there you stood, in front of the Jack's door, bringing up the nerve to even be able to face him. Your guilt weighed heavily on you, enough that you weren’t concerned about his future decision so much as just seeing him in the right now.

Taking a deep breath, you knocked.

“Door’s open, ________”

Somehow, the fact that he already knew it was you only served to make you feel more anxious. You tentatively turned the doorknob and opened it, peeking in.

Soldier sat at his desk. Despite the small bruises and torn flesh from Gabriel’s strikes, he seemed fine otherwise. You figured Mercy was basically a saint who could fix most people up. Regardless, you felt the worst injury Jack may have suffered was to his pride. You stepped into the room. Though his gaze was firm and harsh, it was no more than usual.

He looked away from you down to the papers in front of him.

“I had my jaw broken once before,” he started, motioning for you to take a seat. The only place available to sit was his bed, so you cautiously went over and sat on the edge, watching Jack, waiting for anything he might have to say. “Thirty years ago, medicine wasn’t quite as effective, so they wired my jaw shut for a few weeks.”

You could hardly imagine what that must have been like. Not only had medicine advanced an amazing amount post-omnic crisis, but Dr. Ziegler was an especially extraordinary doctor. Usually, severe injuries were healed promptly. Not quite like your own injuries, but with good treatment it was close to the same. Still, no matter how fast he may have been patched up, you still let this happen.

Before you could utter an apology, he continued.

“It was Reyes that did it. More of an accident than anything.” His low husky voice was calm, his expression almost reminiscent. It was easy to forget the two were once the best of friends. “He pulled his punches after that, every time we would practice hand-to-hand together. I hated it.”

His words made sense. You knew yourself the feelings associated with someone going easy on you. While you understood the thought behind it, often times it felt as though you would never grow if the person was holding back.

“Tonight was the first time since then he didn’t hold back, and God damn the bastard broke it again.”

Jack didn’t seem angry, while you could tell there were negative feelings he was holding back, it just felt to you as though anger wasn’t one of them. He almost seemed satisfied.

He stood, taking slow steps towards you. As he stopped in front of you, he placed a hand on the top of your head. The gesture was gentle, almost comforting even.

“If I wasn’t distracted, I wonder if I would have been able to win that one,” his voice was a questioning mumble more directed at himself. “But with you, I didn’t stand a chance against him, did I?” his lips curled up into a smirk, but the slight disappointment in his eyes was obvious.

“Jack, I-”

“Don’t worry about it.” his hand dropped from the top of your head to his side. “Maybe part of Reyes is still there.” You could tell the man struggled with what he was trying to say, his gaze wandering slightly. “Killing him doesn’t exactly work. So maybe you can figure something out.”

You couldn’t help but jolt up from your spot in surprise at Jack’s words, feeling a mix of joy and worry, but this was something you didn’t expect to hear. ‘Get out of Overwatch’ or ‘Kill Reaper’ were more along the lines of your expectations.

“Tch,” as Jack looked away in annoyance, you couldn’t help but give him a pleased hug, your arms squeezing around his shoulders.

“Get out of here, kid,” his grumble didn’t even phase you. You let go and began to head towards the door.

Smiling, you left the room with a cheery ‘Thank you’, and quickly rushed back to your room.

When you finally entered your own bedroom, you fell onto the bed, hugging your pillow.

That night, sleep came rather easily, once the excitement at how well things turned out wore off, at least.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day felt painfully long. In the morning, you had went to see Mercy so she could check up on your health status. Things seemed to be working fine, and while the Dr. still planned on monitoring your condition, it seemed rather hopeful. Apparently, what Reaper had done to you the night before when he tried to consume part of your soul didn’t show any effects on your body. Not that you mentioned it to Angela, but she didn't seem to notice. That was good, you could only hope it might be easier to help the man through his own condition that way.

The rest of the day was helping out around the base all over, organizing files and cleaning. Though your condition seemed stable, Mercy wanted you to wait a few more days before clearing you to go out on missions. You knew that meant the next few days would mean housekeeping work, but you had high hopes that Gabriel would return at some point.

By the time the sun had set, you were back in your room, throwing on a pair of shorts and a tank top as your sleepwear, your body and hair still glistening slightly from having been in the shower.

You stepped over to your window and opened it, the cool sea breeze chilling your skin.

For some time, you leaned onto the window sill and gazed up at the sky, the sound of the waves clear enough even from your room. It was a great moment to enjoy some peace, and thanks to Jack, you felt like it might not be so hard to get things working out your way.

Eventually, you accepted that your bed was calling to you, and stood straight.

As you turned around, you jumped at the figure sitting on the edge of your bed, a pleased expression gracing the scarred face that belonged to Gabriel Reyes.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

It took a moment for your heart to calm down at the sudden surprise. Though you had hoped he would return, he definitely beat your expectations by showing up literally the next night. Letting out a relieved exhale, you stepped over to the bed, attempting to crawl into it beside Reaper. His arms, however, caught you, and you were pulled into his lap.

You could instantly feel the same sensation as last night wash over your body as his arms held you. You had so many curiosities about his ability to consume souls, like, how it even worked. Then again, it was possible even he didn’t know how it worked.

“Gabe,” your voice came out as though you were scolding him, “that’s the first thing you do? And without even asking?” as you spoke, the sensation of your body numbing went away, and warmth returned quickly, your face flushing as a result.

“If I asked, would you let me?” His voice was a low menacing purr, you shivered against him at the sound.

“Yes.” you squirmed out of his grip and crawled into the bed, patting the spot next to you as his demonic red eyes followed your movements.

He didn’t lay next to you, but instead eyed down your body. You took the opportunity to try to pry out information from him, as there was still so much you didn’t understand.

“You’ve changed a lot,” you commented, smiling at him as you lay on your side.

He joined you, half-heartedly throwing your blanket over your two bodies. “And you’re exactly the same.”

You hoped your comment would have gotten an explanation of some things from him. For example, why he seemed much more handsy than he had ever been in the past. Though he was a very physically inclined man, it was usually through sexuality as opposed to anything else, yet with all of your recent encounters he hadn’t tried anything like that. You suspected that years of loneliness and pain played a part, but it was hard to imagine such an explanation for someone who you always saw as a stone-hearted man.

“Why do you keep coming back despite the risks?” You didn’t bother to mention anything related to what Jack said about you finding a way to deal with Reaper, figuring it was for the best for now.

“You’re mine.”

It had been so long since you heard those words. You felt a chill, your body involuntarily shuddering. He seemed to notice, as he slid an arm around you and pressed his body to yours.

Though once the answer really clicked in, you felt a little bit annoyed. That didn’t explain how he felt at all, there absolutely had to be more to it than that.

“I can’t say I find such a vague answer satisfactory.” you tried to express your annoyance with your face, but it only came out as a pout.

His expression suddenly became fierce, the now familiar hunger in his eyes seemed to glow. You barely noticed as he pushed you onto your back, until you felt his weight against you as he pinned you down with his body. He held your wrists held down against the bed by his firm, inhuman grip. You could tell by the look in his eyes it wasn’t quite your soul he hungered for.

“I’ve been in hell for six years. I’ve been a monster,” he started, his face closing in on your neck. You felt his cold tongue drag along your sensitive skin, leaving a glistening trail of saliva up your neck; goosebumps forming against your skin at his touch. His next words were barely a whisper, low in your ear, “I’m ready to be a man again.”

His words only served to confirm your thoughts. Reyes was different from years ago because he had been suffering this whole time. Had you been able to help him find relief from that suffering?

  
As he pulled away to meet your eyes with his own, you could see he was searching for approval, his body above you tense in anticipation. This was something different than any other time the two of you had let your bodies connect in passion all those years ago.

You tried to swallow your nervousness at the intensity of his desire, stronger than you had ever known; and yet he was holding back, something he had never bothered to do in the past.

“If we go through with this, I won’t let you leave this time.” You were of course, referring to six years ago.

“I won’t try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER BECAUSE I'M THE DEVIL AND DECIDED TO LEAVE A CLIFFHANGER BEFORE LEWD TIME


	10. Need

The primary thing on your mind that Gabriel Reyes was holding himself back. His ravenous crimson eyes stared you down in longing. His firm muscular body remained tense above you, as though it took every bit of strength within the man to hold himself back from practically eating you alive.

Any fear or concerns you may have had regarding him felt as though they had blown away with the breeze, never to return. He had said he wouldn’t try to leave you again. The man who often didn’t speak his intentions, as to avoid being locked into a verbal commitment; didn’t even hesitate to assure you that a repeat of six years ago was not going to happen. Your heart throbbed for him at the clear, dedicated implication of what he had said to you.

“Gabriel,” your voice was soft, your own longing clear in the way you spoke his name. Deciding words just weren’t what the two of you needed right now, you leaned into him, your lips pressing onto his. At that moment, it felt as though electricity ran through your bodies, causing the floodgates that held your mutual desire at bay to burst open.

The both of you frantically moved your lips against each other, as if parched from years without. Sure, the two of you had kissed on a few occasions in the last few days, but this was something else.

Reaper’s movements seemed desperate as he hooked an arm around your waist; using his other hand to grip your thigh and nestling himself between your legs.

The intensity of your connected lips not once let up. You began to feel your lungs burn for air as you realized you hadn’t even been breathing, your desire for him having overwhelmed your need to breathe.

Finally managing to pull away from his kiss, your chest heaved as you gasped for breath. Gabriel didn’t seem interested in stopping at any point, his mouth finding its way to your neck. His pillowy lips pressed to your skin in a series of hungry kisses, causing you to let out a pleasured sigh.

Rough hands ran up and down your legs teasingly, fingertips brushing against you skin and sending shivers of enjoyment through your body, working their way up to your waist, where he tucked his fingers under the waistband of your bottoms and slowly pulled them off.

You took the opportunity to make quick work of his top, slipping your hands under the fabric and grazing your nails against his skin before pulling it over his head. With your bottoms out of the way, Reyes wasted no time working on your own shirt, pulling it off and tossing it without a second thought.

Your bare chests pressed against each other has he brought his mouth to your collar, planting hungry kisses against it, before sinking his teeth into the sensitive flesh. A yelp of surprise escaped your lips, followed by a moan, your fingers tangling their way into his short dark curls.

As his mouth teased your neck and collar, he pulled his pants off, kicking them away to the side. You could feel his hardness against your wet folds as he rolled his hips forward, grinding against you.

His physical attention was briefly taken away from you as he sat back on his knees, only for his hands to slip onto your rump and roughly pull your lower half up, putting your legs over his shoulders, and positioning your dripping sex in front of his face; his hot breath tickling you pleasantly.

He seemed to exert zero effort as he kept your lower half up in the air, fingers digging into the soft skin of your backside. You shuddered as you felt the rather cold tip of his tongue just barely drag against your folds, settling itself at your clit as he slowly, painfully slowly, ran it in circles around the sensitive nub.

It hadn’t been long, but your body felt sore from your lower half being held up like that, your muscles aching. Yet, the ache only seemed to heighten the pleasure of his tongue against you. In a desperate need for more stimulation, you thrust your hips up slightly. He obliged, and his lips wrapped around your clit, his teeth grazing against it as you sucked. Your head rolled back as you moaned, a vibration moving through your body as he chuckled against your warmth.

You squeezed your thighs around his head gently as his tongue began to skillfully work up and down your slit, lapping up your juices. Reyes let out an occasional satisfied groan that resonated through your body, your hips jerking into his ministrations desperately.

“Mmmm!” your hands clutched at your sheets, knuckles turning white from the force of your grasp. You continued to roll your hips along with his skillful tonguing, your gasps and moans filling the air.

As if sensing that you were close, Gabriel abruptly stopped all attention on your wetness, gently placing your lower half back onto the bed. He positioned himself back over top of you, his body between your spread legs. You quickly wrapped your legs around his waist, pulling him closer against you, his member rubbing up against you. You weren’t sure how much longer you could stand to go without him taking you.

As his lips touched against yours, you were met with the taste of your own sex, his tongue exploring your mouth and twining against yours. His hands carded through your hair gently as he broke the kiss, his eyes gazing down at you in appreciation.

You began to feel the numbing sensation of having your soul slowly consumed envelop your body, his mouth moving to your ear, teeth nipping the lobe teasingly. He groaned and tensed up against you. Clearly, consuming your soul felt good to him, which only served to make you feel pleased that you could offer him something like that without worry.

“I need you.” his breath tickled you with each word, his voice speaking clearly from a place of desperate desire. The warmth and feeling began to return to your body, signaling that he had taken what he wanted from your soul.

Reyes’ eyes met yours once again, the tips of your noses touching each other gently. You could feel him tease your entrance with his cock, and you squirmed with want. As he began to push into you, his lips caught yours, drowning out your cries as he sheathed himself all the way inside at once. He held your thigh with a rough grip while his other hand remained tangled in your hair.

As he settled into a torturous rhythm, you gripped his shoulders, nails raking across his back as you groaned in satisfaction against his lips. You arched your back, your whole body burned with a fire you wished would never go out.

The moment his lips left yours, you lunged for his neck, latching onto it, sucking his dark skin hungrily. He let out a groan signaling enjoyment, and you sunk your teeth into him. He seemed to enjoy it greatly, as his movements became more powerful, slamming into you with each thrust. You mewled into the bite with enjoyment, your nails digging into his back only spurring him on more.

His fingers moved from your hair down to your neck, gripping your throat firmly in his hand. You cried out as the sudden roughness caused you to clench around his cock, your breath now surrendered to the whims of his hold. You felt your build up rapidly approach at the flood of sensations between the two of you; your hips making desperate movements against his thrusts. You dragged your nails over his shoulders roughly, almost certainly breaking skin.

Noticing your desperation, the hand that held your neck moved down between your bodies, his thumb pressing against your clit and working circles around it, coaxing you into your peak.

That was enough to send you into your frenzy. Your climax hit you like a wave of ecstasy, you tilted your head back, moaning his name with increasing intensity as the pleasure washed over you. Your toes curled and your inner walls clenched around his thick cock. Your body shook and trembled as you continued to cry out his name, eventually reducing your moans of pleasure to whimpers. Your eyes began to form tears as the sheer bliss overwhelmed you completely.

Gabriel seemed to follow shortly after, burying himself deep into you and gasping, holding you firmly in place as he spilled his hot release into your body. He gave a couple quick thrusts as he came, as if coaxing as much out as possible, letting out a low groan each time his cock twitched within you.

Both of your chests heaved as you caught your breath, Gabe sliding out of you and falling to the bed at your side. He promptly scooped your body into his arms, holding tightly as you felt his warmth radiate through your sore, spent body.

Though you tried to keep your consciousness from slipping away, the sheer force of the encounter left you with no energy, and you slowly felt yourself unable to hold onto being awake, no matter how much you wanted.

_‘Just a little more time’_

You wanted to be able to enjoy the afterglow in his strong, possessive hold, but ultimately, lost the mental fight and fell asleep.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Morning came, the sun shining through your window. You shifted around as consciousness returned to you.

When you opened your eyes, you were taken off guard to see the sight of Gabriel laying peacefully asleep in your bed. Even in the past, this was something that you never got to experience, as he always managed to wake up before you. Perhaps this time he was too worn out to wake up early. You couldn’t help but find it entertaining that even in sleep, he seemed somewhat perpetually grumpy.

You smiled and snuggled up closely to him.

Maybe you could stay in bed for a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh this one was just  
> I really liked writing this one  
> ahhhhh


	11. Morning

You were finally woken up for good when the feeling of two strong arms wrapping around you pulled you away from your dreams. Before you could react, the oh-so-familiar feeling of having your soul literally sucked away from you enveloped your entire body. Although it wasn’t entirely pleasant, you’d already begun to associate the feeling with good thoughts. Gabriel was there, he was with you.

As you felt yourself return to normal, signaling the end of it, you turned yourself in his arms; facing him with a pout.

“You could ask,” it took everything in you not to smile and to keep your pout going.

“I was hungry,” though he didn’t smile, you could tell from his tone and the look in those bright red eyes that he was teasing you.

“Well you can ask next time. You’re only getting off easy because I’m happy you’re still in bed,” you lean forward and press kisses down his neck, enjoying the warmth his body would provide for now; until he needed to take more from you.

“Having to be up early used to be a blessing,” his tone was serious, he leaned in to your face and suddenly you felt so exposed under his gaze; it wasn’t like you ever looked particularly amazing upon waking up and he was looking straight into your eyes with an intensity you could hardly handle, “I could watch you while you slept peacefully. The idea of waking up without you there was too much, so I was selfish and got up first every time.”

Gabriel suddenly felt like he was so much closer to your body, even though his hold on you was enough you weren’t sure that was possible. You were surprised to hear such a thing from him, as he never really was one for baring his soul out, but somehow now he was doing just that. Your face felt hot and flush at the way he spoke to you, and he chuckled. You felt some relief that the intensity was lifted.

“Did I say too much, _mi corazón_?”

You shook your head at his question, not quite able to find the right way to respond to him because he really took you off guard. You were certain by his expression that he knew that. You raised your hand to his head, carding your fingers through the thick curls of his hair, “Well if you want to keep being selfish, who am I to stop you?” You smiled as you spoke and placed a kiss to his plush lips; it was brief but you were certain it conveyed how you felt well enough.

It was rather sudden when you started to think about everything that had happened until now - you couldn’t just let yourself forget it. Reaper had done a lot of bad things. He’d killed a lot of people and he had been working for Talon all these years. Not to mention what happened with Jack. You couldn’t stop the thoughts once they came through. Things certainly couldn’t stay like this - it wasn’t so easy that you could just ask him to stay and things would be over he hated Morrison and he hated Overwatch. Those reasons were enough that things wouldn’t be simple not to mention what he had done to Overwatch.

Your thoughts were interrupted by your hand on your face, snapping you back to the now.

“Tell me what you’re thinking.” Gabriel speaks in a concerned tone which gives away that he could already tell something heavy weighed on your mind, his brows knit. He doesn’t ask what’s wrong but rather almost demands you tell him.

“What’s supposed to happen now, Gabe?” Your voice came out quiet, too afraid that if you didn’t hold yourself back your emotions would run out of control with concern for the future.

“I don’t need to kill anymore for souls,” he was calm in his tone, a sort of calm that actually made you upset because he was making things sound more simple than you were willing to allow them to be, “we could leave, get away from all of this Overwatch shit.”

You shook your head, “You have to make things right, you’ve done a lot of damage.” Your teeth sank into your lower lip as you chewed on it anxiously, “work something out with Jack I’m sure-”

“No.” Reyes left you no room to object, but you weren’t going to let it go that easily.

“Why?” you pulled away from his hold. Finding the right words to expand on your question was hard, you weren’t entirely sure what you meant by asking why but nothing else could come to you. Gabriel didn’t let you pull away too far, his large hand capturing your arm to keep you from backing away any further. His expression was dark; his hold not painful but certainly tight.

“They did this to me, it’s because of Morrison and Ziegler that I’m this monster,” his tone had become a low growl, you shuddered at the clear inner rage he was experiencing; though you knew he wasn’t a danger to you, the fear built within your core anyway. He must have been able to tell, his hold on your arm relaxed until he pulled his hand off of your person,“I should have killed Jack yesterday, this is what they _deserve_ for this.”

His fingers balled tightly into his fists for a moment, it was clear an anger was building in him and for a moment you’d wished you never said anything. He sighed and sat up, looking down at you. The look in his eyes seemed uncertain - but you were relieved the anger at least seemed to subside; you sat up as well and reached out to put a hand to his face.

“I have to go,” he put his hand on yours for a moment, before gently grasping your own and placing it back down to your side.

You watched almost stunned as he got dressed, and slowly, an anger started to build in your chest.

“You can’t just go all of a sudden after _that_ ,” you hardly even realized the way the words came out a hiss.

“I’ll be back,” Gabriel pulled the shirt over his head and walked over to you, leaning down as if to try to kiss you. It was a reflex when you moved away, one you only partially regretted but you didn’t like the way he was just leaving without the two of you coming to a solution.

“What if I don’t want you to come back?” You couldn’t look him in the eyes as you said the words; part if you knew if you had been looking at him, those words wouldn’t have even come out of your lips in the first place. You couldn’t see the frown that formed on his face at what you had said, but you could hear something in his voice that gave it away when he spoke next.

“I’ll come back anyway.”

You turned to look at him but at that point his body already turned to a cloud of black mist that slowly whirled out of your window, leaving you to your own devices.

 

* * *

 

 

It had been two days at this point, since you had last seen Gabriel. You felt wrong to be upset over not seeing him, after all only a couple days had passed, but it wasn't like he left on the greatest terms; you couldn't quite get over how you'd spoken to him just before he left, implied you didn't want him back. Of course you did, and waiting wouldn't have been so bad if you had any idea when you would see him again. If he had at least left a form of contact, that would be something.

You were on your way back up to your room after an average day of typical duties. The day before, you had been lucky enough to be sent on a mission to deal with some local gang terrorizing people in a nearby town, a simple cleanup mission if anything. You'd gone with Jack and McCree, and it was over quick. Maybe not for good, but it felt to great to get something done then. You only wished for more chances to get out rather than feel like you were waiting around.

When you finally made it to your room, you opened the door and instantly felt out of place; you stepped in cautiously, wondering if perhaps Gabe had returned or something. As you reached out to turn on the light, a sound and sudden movement startled you. Reacting was hardly an option, the person behind you was quick. They had you held in place with a hand over your mouth the moment you'd realized they were there. Their other hand raised to the side of your neck and a sharp sting pushed into your skin. You felt hot for a moment, they had clearly injected you with something. You felt drowsy but didn't quite go town, instead tried to struggle against them.

"She's not going down, I think you're right about her condition," the voice that spoke was unfamiliar, "another one? Don't you want her alive?" There was a brief pause, the person clearly talking over a communication system while your body struggled between a state of drowsiness and alert panic. "I understand."

Right after he'd finished speaking, another stinging prick pierced your skin, the substance flooding your bloodstream.

Your vision faded out and eventually your consciousness shut down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a long time!  
> I'm sorryyyyyy  
> But good news is I've decided where to go with this, so there will be a few more chapters left before the conclusion I decided on. :'3  
> I've had a lot of support from readers who have become good friends and done a lot to support me in these trying times of life, and i'm so happy to have all of you readers
> 
> Also, I totally understand I went for the whole kidnapping thing AGAIN I know I know~ heh...


	12. Rescue

“I don’t care if you think the idea is stupid. I’m not waiting around for any of you to come up with some incompetent plan,” Reaper’s voice was a low, impatient growl. His fists were clenched tightly against the table he stood in front of. “She needs to be brought back now, Talon doesn’t exactly have comfortable holding rooms to leave her.”

In front of him, a holovideo lights up the room, paused on the face of a Talon agent - from a video detailing why you had been taken and that this was about a trade. The terrorist organisation knew they wouldn’t be able to handle Reaper their own without some sort of leverage.

Reyes knew the moment he’d come back for you - like he did promise he would despite the argument - that you were missing because of Talon, the holovid only solidified what he knew. It had been a huge risk when he’d rescued you from them the last time; one in his anger he had been willing to take, not wanting them to continue hurting you. But because of that, there was a target on not only his back but the back of someone important to him.

It had been so long since he’d wanted to keep someone safe, he forgot what it was like - the panic set in enough he didn’t want to wait any longer to do something.

The Overwatch agents gathered in the room around him all had grim expressions on their face. The only ones present were Ana, Reinhardt and Morrison - the only member of the original Strike-Team missing was Torbjorn, who didn’t live on-base like the others. Though some of the younger members did want in on the conversation, given the fact that Reaper was still an enemy of Overwatch it was the veteran members who made the decision not to include the others.

But it didn’t matter that his old War friends were willing to work with him - Reyes wouldn’t have it. They’d just hold him back and regardless he couldn’t trust them. Slamming his fist against the stable, he stood from his seat and wisps of mist began to form from his body, readying for his leave. “This is my business.”

“Gabriel she’s in more danger if you go in on your own,” Ana spoke up, her words enough to make Reaper hesitate from leaving.

 

* * *

 

It seemed like a huge joke, to have to wake up a place you weren’t familiar with again; as though it was just a natural part of your new life; as natural as it could possibly be.

When you finally managed to fully regain consciousness from what seemed like a dream-like state, you sat yourself up and your eyes scanned the room in which you were held. Unlike the last time, you weren’t bound; but instead had been left in a small little bed. It wasn’t hard for you to make out the nature of the room being prison-like. A tiny window in the door revealed two men standing outside the room.

“Rise and shine.” The voice startled you, sounding as though it came from all directions. You were proven to be right when a holovideo opened up against the wall of the plain cell - greeted by the face of who you’d easily summarised to be a higher-up at Talon. The woman appeared almost smug as she looked you over. “I hope your accommodations are comfortable. With any luck, you’ll be with us for awhile.”

It took a decent amount of concentration to suppress the urge to roll your eyes. Though you were nervous to say the least - you tried not to make it too obvious. As a result you didn’t bother asking what you’d been taken in for - this woman was clearly a much higher up rather than a former Blackwatch agent. “Let me guess, I get to be here for the rest of my life?” you asked, “the catch will be that won’t last very long, I’m sure.”

“On the contrary,” her lips twitch into the faintest smile, “you’re just what we needed.”

You raised your brow, flinching with surprise but trying not to make anything too obvious. Though you didn’t ask what she meant, you did look at the screen with a questioning expression.

“The Reaper - he doesn’t work with us unless it suits his own agenda,” she answered, “but it’s obvious you’re something we can use to control him with. We’ve needed him to be under our thumb for awhile.”

Your stomach churned at the thought, at her explanation. Though Reyes hadn’t left any survivors when he’d saved you the first time from Talon underlings, they must have found out some way that he had saved you in the first place. Given the man’s behaviour of _not_ saving people up until then of course Talon would put two and two together.

At first, you felt concerned that your capture would lead to Reyes being bent to the will of the terrorist organisation; but part of you did feel hope that maybe your argument was enough to keep him away. It wasn’t as though he hadn’t done it once before - you remember back to when he left before the HQ explosion. It hurt to think just that could happen again - but there wasn’t much of an option. Without Talon, Reaper didn’t have any allies. He was a strong, extraordinary man but that wasn’t enough to handle the entirety of Talon.

The sound of gunshots in the distance alerted you to the fact that you were even still in a video call, your gaze - which had fallen to the floor - darting to the outside window. You could only see the woman on the holovid out of the periphery of your vision, leaning over to speak to someone. There was definitely a disturbance.

“Looks like you’re very effective bait,” as she spoke, you looked over to the video - her grin almost predatory. “I’m sure you’re aware I have business to take care of. Bye now.”

Maybe it was the look on her face, but something about the woman set you off, enough you lunged out of bed in a fury; like you could somehow attack the holovideo and affect her. But she only chuckled briefly before the feed cut off - leaving you effectively alone again.

Adrenaline pumping and your chest burning with anger, you stepped over to the door, pressing your face to it as if you’d hear something going on. But the guards standing by it were speaking to each other loud enough that any distant sounds went unheard. You could only summarise the gunshots you had heard earlier were coming from the video feed - closer to the woman than to you.

Groaning loudly, you banged your fist against the door - no reaction from the guards. Somehow you had to make sure Gabriel didn’t allow himself to be made into some pawn. While trying to figure a way out; your eyes scanning the room for _something_ that could help, a loud crash sounded out nearby - followed by gunfire. There was a fight going on.

“Shit! Gabe get out!” you attempted to call - as if somehow even if he heard you he would listen.

The gunfire made it almost impossible to hear what else might be going on, but you could somehow discern voices in the fighting. You tried to peer out of the window but whatever was going on remained out of your vision properly. In your desperation to figure out what was going on, you braced yourself to attempt to down the door with your own body.

Taking a deep breath, you backed away slowly, giving some distance between the door and your body. Just as you took the first step to make a run, you realised the hallway was oddly quiet. You paused in place, unsure of what to make of the sudden silence until it was broken once again by a crashing sound, the door and some of the wall around it practically shattering.

Making a yelp of surprise, you backed off and covered your face of any debris. A familiar, deep laughter rumbled - which hardly aided with your confusion. You cracked open an eye and your mouth dropped open. The doorway was absolutely destroyed - Talon agents on the other side immobile on the floor. Standing above them was, not Reyes, but still someone familiar - someone a little _larger than life._

_“R-Reinhardt?!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you're not always saved by the person you expect, I guess.
> 
> Look, after months of issues, procrastination and tears, SAD, anxiety, self-doubt and hard times I updated.  
> c:


	13. Escape

Dust settled from the mess of the now disintegrated section of the wall. You stood stunned in place for what felt like much longer than how much time actually passed.

“You shouldn’t have made a Strike Team to come get me,” you managed to say, knowing he hadn’t come alone. You felt sheepish, having reacted so shocked when the man brought the wall in front of you down. If it weren’t a Talon base, you’d sympathise for the tragic loss of the door and the wall surrounding it.

“Nonsense, you are an important ally and friend,” Reinhardt’s voice echoes the slightest bit from behind his mask. Despite being unable to see his face, the genuine tone of his voice is enough to make you feel a sense of relief, even despite being in the middle of a hostage breakout situation in the enemy’s base.

The thought of where Reyes was, whether he’d come or not, was concerning, but you tried to shake it off and focus on the friend you had with you now.

“Where are the others?” You asked, watching Reinhardt turn to the himself-sized hole in the wall.

“We, uh… got a little bit... separated,” he answered, conveniently choosing not to add anything more.

“You charged in by yourself?” you asked, finding it in you to grin while out of his field of vision.

“Stay behind me,” he directed, ignoring your question as he stepped into the hallway and extended his hand. His signature large, blue, rectangular shield formed in front of him, and choosing not to tease anymore in what should be a serious situation, you followed behind him, slowly making your way through the halls.

“I have her. We are on our way to the rendezvous position.” Reinhardt’s words confuse you at first, until you were able to put together he was speaking into his comm system to whoever else had come with him.

“How many of you came?” You asked quietly, periodically checking over your shoulder and down hallways to make sure there would be no surprises from Talon.

“Jack, Ana and myself,” he answered, “probably not the heroes you were expecting?”

His comment made you wonder if he heard you call out Gabriel’s name when you thought that’s who was causing the commotion outside your holding room.

“Not what I was expecting,” you affirm, “but there’s no one more heroic than you, Reinhardt.”

The large man’s boisterous laughter echoed in the hallway - certainly not the best way to navigate enemy territory but it seemed as though none of the agents were even present in this wing anymore, aside from a few on the ground you’d seen along the way. You assume Amari and Morrison were covering for a smooth escape. That, or using this opportunity to bring this sector of Talon down.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, blaring siren; the hallway lights shutting off only to be replaced by pulsing red ones. The alarm system?

_Self-destruction mechanism initialised. Timer started._

_Three minutes until self-destruct sequence._

Before you could say anything to Reinhardt, he dropped his shield, speaking into his comm system.

“Ana, do you hear that?” A pause. “Right away, we will meet at the exi- is everything alright?” Another pause on Reinhardt’s end. “I understand. Be safe, Ana.”

“We are getting out of here now,” The man didn’t raise his shield again, but instead dropped his hammer in the hall before grabbing your forearm with a large, armoured hand. He suddenly began to run, the floor banging loudly with each of his weighted stomps. You followed suit.

“What about the others?” you asked, trying to keep up with Reinhardt.

Though his movements weren’t exactly fast, the size of his body, and as a result, his legs, made his strides long, leaving you to exert yourself as best as you could to run with him. He seemed to be taking some time to answer. Could the sirens have drowned out your voice? Or was it something else?

“Ana will be meeting us at the south exit,” he answered.

_Two minutes until self destruct sequence._

“What about Jack?” you shouted over the siren, voice staggering from the strain of running.

He didn’t answer, only made a sharp turn at the hallway.

Though a handful of Talon agents came into sight, they only glanced at the two of you as they ran down a hallway, seemingly trying to escape an explosive death like the rest of you.

_Sixty seconds until self destruct sequence._

“Reinhardt! What about Jack?!” You screamed, knowing something must be wrong but trying to convince yourself he simply couldn’t hear you.

Despite wanting to resist his hold and stop running until he answered you, you couldn’t bring yourself to stop. Your legs burned from the painful speed by the time what seemed like an exit came into sight.

  
_Ten seconds until self destruct sequence._

The moment the robot voice announced your remaining time panic set in. You were stunned, legs only moving from sheer instinct as your mind raced that you wouldn’t make it out and far enough in ten seconds.

It wasn’t until you were already lifted off the ground that you realised Reinhardt was picking you up, arm wrapped around your torso before he lowered his body and rocketed forward in a charge. His free arm raised in front of the both of you just before making contact with the exit, shattering the door like plywood and continuing on some distance from the base.

Only once the sound of explosives detonating went off did you realise your eyes had been closed during the charge. You opened them to see Ana staring toward the Talon base, eyes wide in horror. Though you were placed down onto your feet by Reinhardt, you felt weak and immediately dropped to your knees, looking around for Jack.

Time passed with the three of you in horrified silence, until finally, Ana spoke up.

“He wouldn’t tell me why he was staying back,” she murmured quietly. Though the reality that Jack was in the base did hit, part of you hung on to the idea that he took an alternative exit.

“Morrison, come in,” you heard Reinhardt say into the comm system, pausing for a moment before trying again, “Jack, your status?”

You could feel your eyes sting, a lump forming in your throat as you remained on your knees helplessly staring at the smoking, burning rubble while Reinhardt tried to get to Jack over the comms.

At first, it didn’t quite click for you when a particularly dark plume of smoke rises from the rubble. Not until it remained in place rather than floating up into the air. You held your breath and didn’t move an inch, staring at the dark cloud as it moved until _two_ figures emerged from it.

Soldier: 76 and Reaper

More importantly, Jack and Gabriel, the former appearing to be in worse condition of the two, his arm wrapped around Reyes shoulder as the other man dragged the both of them closer. You wanted to run to them, to Gabe, but felt as though standing now on what felt like jell-o legs wasn’t going to happen. Having not known Gabriel was inside the base at the time of explosion, you felt a surge of emotions at the idea you could have lost him without knowing. From a sink in your stomach to relief overwhelming enough you didn't even notice the tears sliding down your cheeks.

Though both of their clothes were torn and burned, the skin beneath showing signs of injury, not only was it a relief Jack was alive but to find out Reyes did, in fact, come back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to give a thanks for people who are still here with me c:  
> I'm hoping to tie this up soon, it's been over a YEAR. Like literally I just passed a year since I started this  
> I know updates have been few and far between  
> Not only have I been struggling with my own issues, but I felt as though interaction with my works through things like messages and comments heavily dropped with the influx of many different writers and disheartened.  
> Not only that, but i feel my writing has improved since a year ago and I'm always shy about updating as a result because the thought of new readers finding my stuff scares me ahah, but too embarrassed to go back and re-read to fix things up a little.
> 
> But still I'm so happy to have everyone who stuck around and new writers who wanna see how it ends soon c':


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